


The HereAfter

by w0ahet



Category: Hermitcraft, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Clocks are involved, Fluff and Angst, Future AU, Gen, HereAfter au, Hermitcraft - Freeform, grian knows too much, mumbo is from the past/Grian is from the future, mumbo jumbo is confused
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-04-07 18:58:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 31,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19091107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/w0ahet/pseuds/w0ahet
Summary: Mumbo is confused, tired, has no idea what he is doing half of the time, and managed to get into the future to a world called ‘Hermitcraft’. Hermitcraft seems like a nice place, everyone is kind to him, and apart from the occasional new mobs, he seems to be getting used to this world quite nicely. He can’t shake the feeling that something rather odd is happening under his nose, though.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, I’m W0ah or Matt! This is my first proper fic written on AO3! Hope you enjoy

_Hisss_

“No no no no-“  
Mumbo tried to scarf down as much food as he possibly could, but it was getting difficult trying to eat while walking away from a Creeper that could run.

“Please- please not again-“  
He had just died and respawned moments before to find that it was night time and monsters infested the area.

Night time was always the worst part of Mumbo’s day. Everything was pitch black, he couldn’t see a thing. He could only see six blocks all around him and that was it. What was worse was that his health was at three hearts and he had just finished his last raw porkchop.

He turned his head while trying to make himself speed up, “Just a tiny bit faster-“ he was unsuccessful. He saw that the Creeper was three blocks away, thank goodness that was just enough space so that it didn’t explode.

Mumbo knew he had to get back home, the only problem was that he was going the wrong way. Of course, he didn’t realize this. He walked and walked. The night never seemed to end. The Creeper was bloodthirsty and he had nothing to defend himself.

Usually, when Mumbo wasn’t at his house and it was night, he would dig into the ground and wait it out. He couldn’t stop now to dig a hole, that was too dangerous, the Creeper would get him. Even if he did manage to get into a hole, he would have to deal with the monsters in the morning. Mumbo knew that if he stopped walking, even for a second, he would die and he was not about to do that, not now, he had to get home and get his good gear back.

After what seemed to be decades, Mumbo noticed a familiar foggy sunrise. A smile beamed on his face, he could finally be free of this seemingly internal tenebrosity. Sweat had beaded on his face and dirt and grim managed to get it’s way onto his clothes. Not that he cared much about them, he always respawned with the same blue shirt and darker blue pants.

Once the sun had illuminated enough light Mumbo saw that all around him was entirely different. “No!” He didn’t know just how far he had been walking. Giant walls surrounded the area. Empty caves threaded through the walls leaving peculiar patterns. He had done it again, he made it to the Far Lands.

Years ago, when Mumbo was still new to the world, he was able make to the Far Lands. Strange things happened in the far lands, strange things he could never explain. He always seemed to find the walls at the most odd times. One second they would be there, the next they completely disappeared. He had never been successful on finding them again but when he was there, he quickly learned that this was the absolute worst place to be. Now he was here again, and in a situation like this.  
Mumbo did not stop walking.

He got close to the wall. The Creeper still followed. He never got far enough away from it to lose interest in him. He turned around, facing the deformed green creature. It stared at him without soul or a care for its own life. It only wanted Mumbo dead.

Mumbo knew that if he died, it would make no difference. He had nothing good on him. He stepped back but didn’t dare touch the wall. The Creeper walked up to him and in just a few short seconds, it lit up, ready to explode. Mumbo instinctively backed up against the wall and put his hands up to cover his face from the implode.

The shear second his back touched the sold stone of the Farland Wall the Creeper exploded. Though this time, when he reopened his eyes to respawn, three complete strangers stared down at him.

-

“Who the hell-” One of the three spoke. He was wearing a helmet and some sort of green clothes. “New hermit?” Said another. She had bright blonde hair, goggles, and an outfit Mumbo had never seen before. The third and final person didn’t say, he wore the same clothes as Mumbo did, though his shirt had a giant ‘@‘ symbol and wore glasses.

Mumbo blinked and tried to sit down but the blonde lady pointed a sword at him. He put his hands up. “W-who are you people?” He asked.

The man wearing the helmet told the blonde lady to put her sword away and she reluctantly obliged. Mumbo slowly stood up and took in his surroundings. Everything looked far different from where before. He was no longer in the Far Lands, but he also wasn’t at his Spawn either. The trees were duller in color and there were a lot more different types. Flowers were everywhere and grass existed as well. There were buildings not built out of wood or stone, but instead, they were made of blocks that Mumbo had never seen before.

His hands were shaking as he tried to understand all of this new stuff. He must have still been in the Far Lands. He shook his head rapidly, “Oh no oh no I’m just in the Far Lands.” He muttered. The three looked at him in confusion. Mumbo ran a dirty hand through his black hair. The first time he was in the Far Lands he had a weird daydream much like this one. There were weird nature, weird blocks, and weird ore in that daydream too- but never people. Mumbo never met another person. He must have hit his head too hard against that wall when the Creeper Exploded.

He stepped away from the trio. This had to be the Far Lands. He just had to stop daydreaming. The first daydream lasted only a few seconds- but this- this was minutes.

“Who are you?” The man with the helmet asked. Mumbo stopped to look at him. “Me-? I’m-“ he paused and took a deep breath. “I’m Mumbo- uh, Mumbo Jumbo.”

“Well, Mumbo, welcome to Hermitcraft. I’m Xisuma, that’s False, and that’s Joe.” The man- Xisuma, introduced everyone. “Hermitcraft-?” Mumbo repeated, confusion clouded his tone. Xisuma nodded. Mumbo gulped. This was a really long daydream. Maybe he somehow managed to pass the Far Lands barrier. This had to be the other side of the wall, it made a lot more sense.

“I need to get home,” he spoke up. “I need to find my house before it’s night again.” He continued, looking at the three who he had now dubbed ‘Far Landers’.

“Oh you live here too? Well what’s your house’s cords?” Xisuma asked him. “I don’t know? I need to find spawn and then I can get home from there.” Mumbo replied.

“Mumbo, this is spawn.” False told him. “What?” He looked around. He had to admit, the way the land was formed looked familiar, but also completely different. As if what he was used to was long gone, and this was what took it’s place. “I don’t understand,” Mumbo replied.

“It’s okay, we’ll take you to the shopping district. Do you have an elytra?” Xisuma asked. Mumbo shook his head. “A- what?” He couldn’t even pronounce the odd word.

Xisuma took you what appeared to be giant purple-ish wings and strapped it into his back. “Elytras, Y’know, to fly?” He stared at Mumbo as if he thought he was crazy. “Fly? What? I can barely run-“ Mumbo shook his head. The Far Lands really were weird.

False shook her head. “Okay it’s clear that this guy has amnesia or he just doesn’t know anything. Let’s just bring him to the shopping district by walking,”

Mumbo frowned. He was tired of walking. Though, maybe if he walked far enough he would be able to find the Far Land walls again and get back home and leave this bizarre world behind.

The three all gathered together and led Mumbo to the ‘shopping district’. Xisuma tried explaining the world to him but Mumbo eventually tuned him out, he was too busy looking at the strange structures all around him. This place only barely resembled the world he was used to, and Mumbo already liked it a lot more. Though, there was still a lot to get used to.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mumbo learns about sky-demons for the first time and meets other hermits.

It didn’t take very long for the hermits to make it to the ‘Shopping district’. Mumbo stayed mostly silent and kept to himself. He didn’t reply when the three would ask him questions unless it was about his home.

“So do you know where you live?” Xisuma asked. “I live past the hill at my spawn and a few hundred blocks out from there,” Mumbo responded, his words seemed distant as if they weren’t his own. He never got tired before, but in this place, he felt like he was going to collapse.

Occasionally Mumbo would catch the hermits staring at him oddly. He didn’t know why. Was there something on his face? He frowned slightly and fiddled with his thumbs and kept his eyes on the ground. False and Joe eventually had to go, they had their own projects to work on. This left Mumbo and Xisuma standing in a small field of grass together.

Mumbo watched the sun inching closer to the horizon line. He tensed. “Oh no, it’s going to be dark soon- I don’t want to run into any more monsters.” He ran a hand through his hair, nervous.

Xisuma looked up at the sky. He looked over at Mumbo and clapped his hands together. “Right, of course. The night isn’t good, especially when you don’t have anything,” he looked around at all the different shops around them. “We can explore the world someday soon and try to find your spawn. In the meantime, I suggest getting yourself a bed and building a starter house in the morning? I don’t have much on me at the moment, so I can’t give you anything to start off with,”

Mumbo looked up at Xisuma, perplexed. “A bed?” His eyes landed on an odd-looking blue flower. ”Uhm, yes, a bed- to sleep in.” X replied. Mumbo didn’t say anything in response. Xisuma blinked twice, “You _do_ sleep, right?” He asked.

“I always wait out the night,” Mumbo replied shortly. He dreaded night. “Well I mean, you do that here, but I advise you to sleep every once in a while. The Phantoms get pretty bad here. When was the last time you slept?”

After thinking for a few moments, Mumbo finally answered  “I don’t think I’ve ever slept,” he frowned ever so slightly. Xisuma looked at him like he was insane. _‘Great,’_ he thought, _‘another odd look,’_

“Never sleeping at all? How have you not died to the Phantoms?” The other asked. “What even are Phantoms?” Mumbo questioned and Xisuma only shook his head. “Okay, I see you don’t really know anything at all about this decade... I’ll talk with all the other hermits tomorrow morning. Think you can survive the night?”

Mumbo nodded. “That’s all I do at this point.” He shrugged. Xisuma made one last glance up at the sun, watching it sink behind the trees in the distance. “Okay great. Make sure to stay inside the shopping district and around torches. Probably stay inside the shops. Phantoms can’t get you if you’re not in the open.”

With that, Xisuma grabbed a rocket and double checked to see if his elytra had enough durability before getting ready to take off. “I’ll see you in the morning, Mumbo! Unfortunately… I have- something to deal with at the moment..” he waved goodbye and then shot up into the air. Mumbo was left there in a cloud of white sparks, astonished. Some guy just took to the sky right before his eyes so nonchalantly as if it wasn’t a big deal.

His hands were trembling, though that most likely due to his severe sleep deprivation. His head hurt, and his clock around his neck ticked annoyingly as if it was taunting him. Mumbo’s nervous red eyes glanced around him. He was completely alone in an area he has never been to and it was getting _darker_ \- was it?

Mumbo failed to realize that the sun had fully set. He was so used to complete and utter darkness that he assumed the current state of the night was just the beginning, but the moon was already creeping its way into the sky.

A torch and a cleverly hidden sea lantern flickered and glowed on the ground beneath his feet. Everything was quiet, a tad bit too quiet.

Although, that was before Mumbo heard a hiss, but not a familiar hiss.

A loud cry, almost like a shriek came from above him. In a panic, Mumbo looked up to see around seven large purple-ish-blue flying creatures. Their numbers soon doubled, now fourteen creatures screamed and yelled at Mumbo from above. These must have been the Phantoms Xisuma was talking about.

Mumbo quickly tightened his jacket around his waist tighter and began to speed walk wherever his feet may take him. A particularly large Phantom swooped down at him and attacked him. He lost many hearts. Mumbo watched in horror and the other Phantoms followed the lead and tried to kill him.

He jumped, trying to avoid the menacing teeth that were attempting to bite off his head. A small wooden wagon, or cart, was a few blocks ahead of him and he dived underneath it to take cover.

Phantoms cried and screeched at him to come out. The ticking and whirs of the clock became louder and more prominent. His own heartbeat thumped in his ears at an irregular speed. The usual quiet ambient sounds could be heard much clearer now.

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick..._

The clock, the sounds, everything. It was all too much.

The noise and insanity of the lack of sleep we're getting to him.

Mumbo covered his ears.

_Silence._

He breathed in. He hadn’t realized how intensively he was breathing. This new place was insane. It was utterly mad. Mumbo focused on his breathing. Maybe the Phantoms would leave him alone once they realized they couldn’t get him. Although something told him that they wouldn’t leave until morning. He sighed, breathing in, and out. Slowly, Mumbo lowered his hands and all the sounds were back to normal, apart from the screaming sky-demons of course.

The clock silenced, it had stopped ticking entirely. It stayed like that for a few seconds until it must have somehow realized Mumbo was paying attention to it and it began ticking away again.

Mumbo inhaled and exhaled slowly once more before breathing regularly. He leaned against one of the cart’s back wheels and closed his eyes. For the first time in twenty-three years, Mumbo fell asleep.

-

_“Mumbo? That’s his name? Mumbo!”_

Mumbo slowly rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and opened them to see Joe from yesterday, and a guy with a cowboy hat. “Uh-“ Mumbo didn’t want to get up, he didn’t even want to wake up at all.

“Why was he sleeping under Grian’s cart?” The man with the hat asked. “I don’t know,” Joe replied. “Mumbo, it’s morning now. Xisuma wants you to meet everyone- oh speaking of, this is Scar,” Joe pointed to the man in the hat. He waved. “Hello fellow Hermit,” he laughed.

Mumbo slowly crawled out from under the cart and stretched. He was taller than the both of them and it seemed to have surprised Scar slightly. “Oh, good morning. Must've had a really comfortable sleep underneath this here cart.” He grinned. Mumbo blinked, still not fully aware of his surroundings. “Yeah,” he finally spoke.

“We don’t really have a proper meeting place, so we’re going to meet outside iTrade,” Joe gestured Mumbo to follow, which he did.

They arrived at a pale yellow and white building. A bunch of people was standing outside, chatting and joking around. Mumbo recognized False from the day before. “Hm, I thought everyone was going to be here today,” Scar commented. “I’m guessing some really are dedicating a lot of time into their projects,” Joe turned to Mumbo. “But I’m sure you’ll meet everyone eventually,”

Mumbo nodded slightly. He no longer felt tired, but the large crowd of people made him nervous. He had never seen so many people before, and this wasn’t apparently everyone.

Joe and Scar led Mumbo to the group. A few Hermits introduced themselves. Doc, Stress, Cub, Impulse, Ren, and quite a few others.

“Where’s Grian and Xisuma? Weren’t they here when we left to get Mumbo?” Scar asked the others. “Xisuma had to show Grian something. I’m sure they’ll be back soon though,” Iskall walked over.

“Hey Mumbo, if you need any help getting started, I have a few extra things. That is if you plan on staying here very long.” Iskall placed a light purple block on the ground. “I’m happy to take whatever you’re willing to give,” Mumbo sat down on a makeshift chair, which was really just stairs and a couple of signs. The purple block opened revealing items inside. “What is that—?!” He immediately stood up. Iskall put his hands up. “Oh no worries, it’s just a shulker box. It’s not going to hurt you,” Iskall laughed and Mumbo relaxed. “Oh- I didn’t know,”

 _“Speaking of you not knowing stuff,”_ a voice appeared from behind the crowd. It was Xisuma. “You don’t seem to know much about this world. You act as if you’ve never seen a flower before. You’re not from here, are you Mumbo?” He asked.

Mumbo shook his head hesitantly. “No- I’m from my world. This place is so different than mine.” He replied. “Where’s Grian?” Iskall asked. “He had to stay behind and work on something..” Xisuma replied. “Mumbo, can you tell us all about your world?” He continued.

Mumbo slowly sat back down in the chair. Everyone’s eyes were glued onto him now. The clock was ticking louder. “Well, to start off, everything’s a lot brighter. The trees, the grass, the water- although, the night is pitch black. I could barely see a thing,” he began. “My world.. it’s like this one, just- it doesn’t have as many things. It doesn’t have this tall grass,” he picked at the grass that went to his knees. “It doesn’t have these flowers,” he pointed to an orange tulip. “And it most certainly doesn’t have Phantoms or Shulkerboxes- or chairs,”

Xisuma hummed. “I figured... Mumbo, I believe you may be from the past.” He stated. A few hermits choked. “What? From the past? Xisuma are you okay?” Someone asked.

“The past? How can I be from the past?” Mumbo asked. “There’s no way- that’s impossible. Does this place have time machines here as well as all this other weird stuff?” He asked. Everyone shook their heads. “Not that I know of,” Ren said.

“I’m sorry, Mumbo, but I don’t think we’ll be able to get you back home. The stuff you’re describing about your world is how the world used to be years ago, nearly a century ago.” Xisuma explained. Mumbo frowned. “I can’t get home-?” He spoke quietly to himself.

What was even waiting for him at home? More creepers? Terrible nature scenery? A horrible house he spent so long on and still managed to make it look bad? The more he thought of it, the more Mumbo realized what was the point in trying to get back home when he could start a new life here.

“You’re welcome to stay here and join in the community,” X went on. “There are a few islands that haven’t gotten claimed that I’m sure no one minds you taking.”

Mumbo stared at the grassy ground. The clock was still getting gradually louder. “Okay,” he finally said. “I’ll stay here. I have nothing left to lose anyway,” he shrugged slightly with a smile. “I’m sure I have a lot to learn though..” his smile faltered slightly. “For starts, what in the world is that—?” He pointed off to the distance behind a tree. The hermits turned around to see a chicken pecking at the ground, looking for seeds.

“That’s- uh- a chicken.” Ren laughed. Others joined in on the laughter. “Chickens. Wow. This world has everything,” Mumbo chuckled with the others. Sure, he barely knew anything from this new world- the future- but, he at least got an opportunity to start over and a reason to laugh. Two things Mumbo didn’t think would ever happen.

 


	3. Chapter 3

After a few more tours around the shopping district and a lot more sporadic confused panicking moments, Mumbo finally gained enough courage to explore off the main island and look for a proper place to build. He had made quite a bit of progress over the past few hours. He could now jump further and do what he called ‘running’ but was actually jumping over and over which the other Hermits didn’t understand but found amusing nonetheless. 

 

It also took Mumbo way too long to check what was inside his inventory. A single red rose. Nothing more, nothing less. Stress dubbed it the “rose away from home,” and Mumbo found himself relating to the name. Ren told him that there were no longer single roses in the world, but instead, rose bushes. Mumbo didn’t like rose bushes, but that may have been because of his over-use of single roses around his house in his old world. 

 

He sighed, he missed his house. He missed putting hours into it every day. He missed it’s weird and unusual shape and style. He missed the flower fields and the group of pigs around the building. He missed the journey from spawn to his house and the times he only found coal when he went mining. He even missed the night. His night didn’t have Phantoms. He missed his world. 

 

Although, he liked this world too. He loved the vibrate yet not eye straining blocks. He loved the varieties of everything. He found it cool that there were different types of ores and stone, even when Iskall insisted that diorite was terrible. As much as he now hated phantoms, he found it interesting that they, and along with many, many, other mobs, were new. He was terrified by half of the things he found, but also fascinated. 

 

Now, Mumbo was standing at the edge of an ocean. His grey shoes off to the side and his bare feet underneath warm sand. He picked up his pair of shoes, tied them together by the laces, and flung them over his shoulder. “Okay Mumbo, a bit of water never hurt anyone,” he muttered quietly to himself. He heard the waves crash onto the shore and the faint soft ticking of his clock. The sounds of the water were relaxing, peaceful, inviting in a way. The clock, however, was painful, angry, intimidating in every way possible. It reminded him of when he got it. Mumbo’s eyes glassed over at the thought of his experiences with the clock, and how it only ever brought bad. He wouldn’t doubt it if it was the clock’s fault that he was here in this world and not back at home with his many farm animals. 

 

Mumbo clenched his fists. The clock had gotten even louder, it now muffled the sounds of the waves. No longer were the waves inviting, they were threatening. He took a step back. Something was in those waters, and it wanted him dead. Everything seemed to want Mumbo dead at this point. He wouldn’t be surprised if the rose bushes suddenly came alive and attacked him. 

 

However, Mumbo was told of some very cool-looking islands out in the waters, and he was going to get to them one way or not. 

Not knowing boats existed, Mumbo stepped into the cold oceanic water. He stood there frozen for a few seconds. The cold was nearly unbearable. He forced himself to walk out a few blocks before

inevitably submerging his head under the water and holding his breath. With the help of being fully immersed in water, he got used to it quicker. He made sure he still had his shoes around his shoulder- which know migrated around his neck- before resurfacing to get air. Kelp tickled his foot from below and he nearly yelled. Yet another thing to get used too. 

 

Mumbo continued to wade through water for a few hundred blocks. He didn’t know swimming was an option. Kelp occasionally tangled aground his feet and pulled him down, but he quickly found that it was easy to untangle himself by kicking. 

 

Hundreds of blocks out into the ocean, there was nothing but more ocean. Mumbo didn’t know how long he had been traveling, but he’s grown accustomed to that. The water as no longer cold, but it was irritating his fingers and he was getting more and more exhausted from all the treading he had to do. 

 

Where were these islands Xisuma told him about? He was told that they weren’t too far away, but all he saw was more frustrating kelp, the occasional dolphins, and a couple of fish around.  The dolphins and fish we’re terrifying and Mumbo stayed as far away as possible when he saw them. 

 

Eventually, Mumbo’s mind switched into autopilot. He no longer paid much attention than his surroundings- not that there was much to pay attention to anyway. He now tiredly made his way through the water while his mind went elsewhere, focusing on the sounds of the water and the ticking of the clock. The clock that coincidentally now floated on the water.  

 

It wasn’t long until Mumbo heard a strange sound. It sounded like someone was drowning. Before he had time to react, kelp latched around his feet, pulling him down. He tried kicking but the kelp didn’t budge. He opened his eyes under the salty water and tried to see the kelp that kept him captivate. Instead of kelp around his ankles, he saw two blue-ish green hands. The hands belonged to some weird-looking zombie. Mumbo gasped in shock, water quickly filled his lungs. He tried not to cough, knowing that it would only make it worse. 

 

He kicked at the zombie, trying to loosen his grasp, at the same time he tried to push himself up to the surface. The zombie loosened its grip around one foot and immediately Mumbo pulled it away and used it to kick at the zombie’s other hand. The zombie groaned under the water. Finally, it let go of Mumbo, but it continued to reach out for him. 

 

Mumbo was out of air by the time the zombie gave up and he was down to three hearts once he resurfaced. He gasped for air and coughed the water out of his lungs. The zombie was slowly swimming up to him but Mumbo was stuck in a coughing fit. 

 

More Drowned seemed to appear out of nowhere and were making their way up as well. Mumbo tried to get away. “Help!” He yelled but no one answered. Everyone was thousands of blocks away and Mumbo was in the middle of an ocean, of course, no one would hear him. 

 

In a desperate attempt to get away from the water zombies, Mumbo continued to wade. He kept his eyes peeled for any sign of land. He hoped he wasn’t going the wrong way this time around. 

 

After what seemed like ages, Mumbo saw some massive white and grey building the middle of the water. He tried to make his way over there. The zombies were no longer following him thankfully. 

 

He lunged himself up onto the massive border around the structure. This wasn’t an island, but it was still cool to look at. This building was larger than any of them in the shopping district and it looked very- futuristic’ 

 

Mumbo walked down one of the bridges into the base. The cold concrete floor was a nice change from the blocks-deep ocean. He exhaled, finally able to breathe properly. Nothing should get him here. 

 

Mumbo glanced up at the ceiling, but there was none. There was a giant hole in the center of the structure and the building went up several layers and seemed to get thinner the further up. There was a small opening at the very top that you could see through from the bottom. Mumbo wondered who built this base. 

 

The clock ticked as always. It had never stopped since the cart incident. It was annoying, but Mumbo ignored it. He walked counter-clockwise around the bottom floor, not knowing how to get to the other floors. His hand traced the intricate details on the entrances before walking out onto one of the bridges. 

 

Off into the distance, he barely noticed a few isles. Those must've been the islands he was told to go to. Mumbo stared into the navy blue water for a few seconds, debating if he really wanted to get in or not. This base was so cool- and dry. Though, he figured that the journey to the islands wouldn't take as long as it did to get where he was now. With another deep breath, Mumbo jumped into the water. 

  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

A few days had passed since Mumbo arrived in hermitcraft. He settled down on one of the islands and made some sort of “tree house”. 

The tree house wasn’t bad for his first build but each time he looked over at the massive base next to his island, he would feel inspired to build a base just as big. The only issue was that he had no idea how. 

Mumbo sat against the tree’s trunk and watched the sunset. Xisuma told him that if he slept frequently he wouldn’t have to deal with phantoms. Although, he didn’t know how frequently that was. Though, Mumbo felt safe. He had placed down way too many torches around the island than what was required to keep mobs from spawning. He assumed that Phantoms spawned like other mobs. 

The sun set quickly and Mumbo still hadn’t yet found a crafting recipe for a bed. He held a torch in his hand. The small flame illuminated his face and kept him warm. He heard a familiar gurgle come from the water a couple of blocks away, but he wasn’t concerned. He learned that the water zombies couldn’t get you if you were on land- if they didn’t have a trident that is. 

Mumbo sat against the tree for a couple of moments. He closed his eyes at one point, trying to get himself to fall asleep again. He wasn’t successful. It didn’t take long for the effects of going a couple of days without sleep to kick in. He held the torch closer to his chest, his eyes struggling to stay open though he knew once he closed them, he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.

It took another minute or two until Mumbo heard a terrifying screech. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He placed the torch down next to another. “I have torches everywhere!” He yelled at the few Phantoms that were already beginning to swarm. Not nearly enough as there were on his first night, but still enough to scare him.

Mumbo stood and climbed up the ladders to his treehouse to take shelter. He watched the Phantoms circle in confusion, wondering where he had gone. “Ha! Stupid sky-demons!” He yelled.

A Phantom must have heard him. The swarm immediately turned around and began swooping down at the tree house, trying to find a way in. Unfortunately for Mumbo, he had left a giant gaping hole in the house and the mobs were able to get in. They snapped and bit at Mumbo as he struggled to get back down his ladder. Possibly a staircase would’ve been easier. 

Mumbo looked around, trying to find a way to escape or take shelter. His eyes laid upon the ocean. Surely Phantoms couldn’t swim. He dashed toward the water and dived in. He had to be safe in the water. He was wrong. 

A Phantom dived in after him and was making its way over to attack him. Mumbo panicked, he nearly inhaled water once again. More phantoms flew into the water, their glowing green teeth only inches away from his face- that is, until Mumbo saw a quick glance of aqua zooming past his face and hitting one of the Phantoms, knocking it dead. 

It was a trident.

The trident launched itself back into the air and then came speeding back down, hitting two other Phantoms in the process. Soon, all the Phantoms were gone. Mumbo swam back to the surface to breathe and saw the beholder of the trident. 

A man with red and blue wings was flying in the air. He shouted something before heading down, landing on top of the treehouse. Mumbo swam to the island and walked over, curious but also Cautious. The stranger peeked over the edge of leaves. 

“Hey, new Hermit! Thought you needed some help,” he spun the trident in his hands. The guy had two heterochromatic eyes, left one red, the other blue. The wings- or ‘elytra’, was different from any of the other hermits Mumbo has seen. Instead of purple-ish grey, it was blue and red. He had what appeared to be an iron hand. And finally, the man had an identical clock necklace like the one Mumbo had. 

“Uh- thanks?” Mumbo knitted his eyebrows in confusion. “Who are you?” He asked. The other put the trident away and jumped down. “Oh! Right! I’m-“ he was cut off the moment his feet touched the ground. The sun on his clock spun around and ticked louder than Mumbo had ever heard his clock tick before. It took a few seconds before his clock did the same. “What-“ 

Both of their clock’s suns spun in unison. Mumbo could barely keep count at how many times it went full circle. It appeared to get faster. Mumbo went to grab his own clock to get a better look at it but the metal burned at the touch. He immediately pulled his hand away and watched as his clock blared nonsensical noise. No longer was it fast pace ticking- it was clinking and clanking, sparking and whirring. The other clock did the same. The two exchanged a glance with each other and began to back away slowly. 

With step away from the other, the clocks would seem to calm down a bit more. They were back to normal once the stranger was back on top of the tree house again. Mumbo went to touch the clock and it was ice cold. No longer did it feel like it was going to melt his fingers off. “Uhh-“ Mumbo began, looking up at the other. “I guess our clocks don’t like each other!” The guy exclaimed. Mumbo chuckled slightly. “I suppose not.” 

“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by our clocks, my name is Grian,” he smiled. “Oh, hello Grian, I’m Mumbo.” Mumbo introduced himself. “Oh, I know who you are, Mumbo Jumbo.” Grain swung his legs over the edge of the tree branches and kicked involuntarily. 

“You’re the talk of the town. Every hermit won’t stop babbling on about you and where you came from in the chat,” he pulled a small black device out of his pocket. It had sloppy white words on the side, labeling it ‘T-Chat’. “Did you get one of these?” He asked and Mumbo shook his head. Grian tossed the T-Chat to Mumbo. It crashed into the sand next to him. 

“You can have it. I don’t need one.” Grian pointed to his blue eye. Mumbo picked up the device. It appeared that all the hermits were talking in there. Xisuma asked something along the lines if someone could sleep and then five other hermits replied that they couldn’t. All of those were sent a few moments ago. He shoved the T-Chat into his own pocket. 

“I’ve noticed you’ve set up base next to mine.” He gestured to the massive building. “No way-“ Mumbo looked over at the base he had been admiring for a few days. “Is that building yours?” He asked. Grian nodded. “I spent months on that project,” he continued to kick his legs. “I don’t mind you being here. I was never probably going to use these islands anyway,” he shrugged. 

“Another thing is that I couldn’t help but notice that you came from the past,” he stated. Mumbo froze for a second, before speaking. “I guess so?” He shrugged. “Not completely sure though.” He continued. Grian nodded and then glanced down at his own clock. “Yeah..” he frowned slightly then shook his head as if to clear his mind from a particularly painful memory. Mumbo didn’t notice. 

“Anyway, Mumbo Jumbo, I've brought you a ‘New Hermit Gift’ because you’re the new hermit and I’m no longer the new hermit and I thank you for that,” he was about to jump back down but stopped himself. “Er- hold on a second.” He pulled some sort of red torch out of his inventory and held it near the clock. Nothing seemed to happen. Grian jumped down and surprisingly, the clocks didn’t begin screaming at each other. 

“What did you do?” Mumbo asked and Grian shrugged. “I have no idea, it just works. Redstone is weird.” He laughed. Mumbo frowned slightly ‘Redstone?’ He thought. Grian pulled one of those weird shulker box things and placed it on the floor. “Voilà,” he smiled and opened it. Mumbo stared at an entire inventory worth of eggs. “What-“ he began but Grian shook his head. “It’s your new hermit gift,” he grabbed a few eggs and tossed them to Mumbo. Mumbo panicked, not really understanding what they were, and didn’t catch them. Sixteen eggs fell on the floor and two baby chickens spawned. “Oh my goodness- there are baby versions?” 

“Do you not know what eggs are?” Grian laughed. Mumbo, still confused, shrugged. “I’m not sure I understand,” he chuckled. Grian grabbed a few more stacks of eggs and threw them on the ground. He wasn’t as lucky with the chicks. “There’s a small chance a baby chicken will come out of eggs when thrown,” he explained. “That doesn’t sound very good for the chicken.. forced to be born and all,“ Mumbo pointed out and Grian just shrugged and continued to throw eggs around. Mumbo took a few stacks of eggs and carefully dropped them on the floor. 

Grian threw an egg at Mumbo when he wasn’t looking and it hit his face. Raw egg dripped down his forehead and down the side of his face. “Gross-!” Mumbo laughed and threw one at Grian. A chicken spawned in Grian’s arms. “I’m a father!” He exclaimed. The baby chick flapped its wings and tried to get out of Grian’s grasp. “What does that make me? I’m the one who threw the egg,” Mumbo pointed out, laughing. Grain looked over at Mumbo for a few moments before breaking down laughing, dropping the chicken in the process. The chick fluttered down, clucked at the two idiots, and ran away to join their two siblings. 

The two newest hermits continued throwing eggs around the island until the sun was rising in the distance. Maybe it was lack of sleep talking, but Mumbo found himself laughing at whatever silly thing Grian would say or do. They were currently on the top of the treehouse, throwing the last remaining eggs onto the beach below. 

“Why’d you come over here? Surely it wasn’t just to conveniently save me and give me a bunch of eggs” Mumbo asked. “Well, we’re the newbies here, right? Even though I’ve been here for quite a few months- but that’s besides the point. We gotta stick together.” He placed an egg on a few leaves for Mumbo to grab. 

Mumbo modded, agreeing. He picked up the egg and threw it somewhere, not watching if it spawned a chicken or not. Grian threw the last egg on the grass directly below the treehouse and amazingly, a baby chicken emerged. There were a lot of baby chickens running around the small island. Though, Mumbo didn’t care. He was happy he was able to make a friend so quickly. 

“Speaking of being new, how did you arrive here?” He asked. Grain’s smile faltered slightly and mumbo worried if he said something wrong. “I think..” Grian paused, thinking over the next sentence he was about to say.

“The same way you did.”


	5. Chapter 5

“The same way I did? What do you mean?” Mumbo asked. “I mean, we have the same clocks right? Surely we did something similar to travel through time.” Grian explained. “Wait you’re saying you’re from the past too?” Mumbo questioned. “Er- no- not exactly. I’m from the ‘future’” he made air quotes. “Oh, the future. That’s interesting..”

Grian nodded. “What did you do to get into this time period?” He asked. Mumbo shrugged. “I have no idea. I just appeared here.” He explained. Grain frowned. “Oh, okay,”

They sat on the treetop in silence for a few moments. The sound of the ocean and the soft ticking of their clocks channeled through the air. It was peaceful. Though, Grian’s sad expression made Mumbo concerned. “Are you okay?” He asked. “Oh- yeah, I’m fine. Sorry about that.” Grian stood up and dusted off his pants. He glanced off toward the horizon. The sun has risen higher, the sky was a soft golden color and slowly turning blue. “Ah, it’s morning now.” He turned to look at Mumbo. 

“It was nice meeting you, Mumbo, but I have to go work on a few projects,” he cycled through his inventory and got out a stack of rockets. Mumbo stood back up. “Oh right, of course. I have some things to work on as well.” He smiled. Grian saluted and fired his rockets off, launching off into the air. He waved bye one last time at Mumbo before heading back to his base.

Grian flew through one of the massive entrances, using up way too many rockets in the process. He landed in the center. His hands were shaking and he could feel himself overheating slightly, though that didn’t bother him. He couldn’t believe it. Mumbo really was from the past. A further past than this past.

He paced around in circles, muttering nonsense. He ran through his inventory, items flickered in and out of existence in the palm of his hand. He ended up with the shulker box that no longer had eggs in it. Trying to distract his mind from future and past thoughts, he decided to clear out his inventory in the many chests he had laying around.

Grian dumped the empty shulker box into a random chest in a corner of his base. As he walked away from his ‘storage area’ a semi-transparent grey bar flashed across his eyes. He received a private message from Xisuma...

Xisumavoid: You talk to Mumbo yet?  
Grian blinked a few times, replying instantly.  
Grian: yeah  
Xisumavoid: Good  
Grian: Why?

He got no reply. Grian frowned slightly and leaned against the side of his water elevator. He ran a hand through his messy hair. Thoughts ran through his mind at rapid speeds. No longer was he able to distract himself from them.

Mumbo somehow got into the future. Now, what did Mumbo do in order to be brought into the future and not the past? What did Grian do to get into the past? His hands moved to cover his eyes. The cold metal of his hand against his forehead cooled him down slightly. If Mumbo got into the future, there was a chance Grian could also travel to the future- to his time. He would be able to see his friends and family again.

He slowly slid down the pillar. His elytra sliding off his back, though he didn’t care enough to pull it up. His eyes darted around his base. There was still more to do. He sighed. His clock ticked quietly. It didn’t bother him. He stood up, walking over to his chests grabbed a few stacks of glass and white concrete.

Grian spent the next few hours working on expanding his base and adding more to the other floors. He wasn’t exactly sure what else there was to add to his base, but he liked working. However, he wasn’t able to finish his floor before he received yet another message from Xisuma.

Xisumavoid: Grian  
Xisumavoid: Spawn. Come quick

Grian placed one more block down before replying.

Grian: What? What do you need?

X replied almost immediately which was odd considering he didn’t have an eye like Grian.

Xisumavoid: I found another one.

-

Meanwhile, a hundred or so blocks away, on a small island, Mumbo was digging in the ground. He decided that his treehouse was insufficient and that he was going to live under the island.  
He dug straight down until he hit bedrock. He didn’t like the look of bedrock and went back up a few levels until he found a good place to begin mining out an area to live.

While mining he found a red ore. Mumbo completely ignored it at first. Red ore had little to no use in his world. Although, he saw Grian use a red torch to temporarily confuse his clock. Mumbo mined the ore, red dust came spilling out of the block and onto the floor. He touched it with the tips of his fingers. He felt like sand and glowed like fire. He stuffed the dust into his inventory.

Possibly he could find a use for it later.


	6. Chapter 6

“What is that?”  
“I’m not sure. I’m assuming it’s like the others that we found,”  
“It looks so different. You sure it wasn’t always here?”  
“Positive. It wasn’t here when Mumbo arrived… Only that other one near the border.”  
“That’s strange…”

-

Mumbo was currently sitting in his tree house. He had yet to move his stuff underground. He leaned up against a crafting table propped up against a few branches. He pushed the Redstone dust he had found a few hours before into different slots of the table, hoping it would turn into anything. He tried crafting a Redstone Torch. He put one normal torch into the center, and surrounded it with the dust, though he didn’t craft anything. He couldn’t remember how he used to craft them- he couldn’t remember any Redstone recipes at all- if there were any. 

Mumbo sighed and pushed himself away from the workbench and sat crisscrossed. Reaching into his pocket, he took out the T-Chat. Possibly another hermit could help him. 

After fiddling around with all the buttons and levers he was able to type out a message and send it. 

MumboJumbo: Anyone know how Redstone works?

He stared at the tiny block, hoping he made it work correctly and didn’t somehow break it.   
The screen flickered on and white text appeared at the bottom. 

Iskall85: Haha having trouble? I can show you

Mumbo stared at the T-Chat for a few seconds, squinting his eyes and slowly looking over all the buttons. He pressed some, watched his words appear on the screen, and typed out a reply. 

MumboJumbo: Please help. I am at my island

Mumbo glanced back at the red dust on the table. It illuminated softly, flickering slightly. Particles fluttered off of the pile and drifted through the air. 

Mumbo huffed in frustration. “You can’t still be useless??” He stared at the pile of dust in front of him. Here he was, alone on an island, talking to a pile of dust. He sighed and turned away, deciding it would be best if he would wait until Iskall arrived. 

 

-  
“Mumbo? You here?” Iskall landed on the sandy beach. He got no reply. “New Hermit?” He called out again and began walking around the island. “Over here!” He heard someone call. Turning around- Iskall saw a large oak tree that had been converted into a tree house. Mumbo was sitting inside the house and waving at Iskall through the leaves. 

“Hallo, there!” Iskall walked over to the tree to get a better look at it. “Ready to learn about Redstone?” He asked. Mumbo scooped the dust into his hands and climbed down the ladder and walked over to Iskall. Mumbo was a few feet taller- he had yet to find any hermit taller than himself. “Oh for sure. This stuff doesn’t even seem to work,” he laughed. 

“Yeah, redstone can be a bit finicky. No worries though. I even brought some other Redstone supplies as well,” Iskall pointed over to a fairly clear area on the beach to work with. “We can build some Redstone over there, if you don’t mind,” He suggested. Mumbo shook his head. “No, not at all.”

 

The two walked over to the sandy patch of the island. Iskall placed down a shulker box that was filled with Redstone items. Mumbo stood a few blocks away, not paying very good attention at all. He fiddled with the dust in his hands, touching every speck that glowed or flickered. Redstone fascinated him. It did not act like this in his world, and he wanted to learn as much about it as he could. 

“Okay, let's start with the basics,” Iskall spoke, drawing Mumbo out of his drifted state. “You have any Redstone torches?” He continued, looking back over at Mumbo. Mumbo shook his head. “I tried making some. Can’t for the life of me remember the recipe.” he chuckled. Iskall nodded. “It’s like crafting a regular torch. One stick and some Redstone dust over it. It’s amazing how Redstone glows, really,” he grabbed some dust out of his shulker box and dropped it on top. Mumbo agreed and walked over. He added his dust to the pile. 

“Okay, I have some torches and we have our dust. I guess I’ll just explain what everything does,” He picked up the dust and quickly put it away in his inventory. He reached into the shulker box and pulled out a few Redstone components. He showed each one to Mumbo and explained what they did and how to use them. Mumbo nodded in interest at each one and hummed in understanding. 

The two built random circuits on the beach together. Mumbo copied whatever Iskall did step by step a few times before he began understanding and adding more onto his own Redstone structures. Mumbo figured out how to build a piston door. Though, it took him many tries and left his failed attempts behind, leaving the small section of the island primarily sounding ongoing pistons. Half an hour passed and Mumbo stopped Iskall from introducing slime blocks into the mix of Redstone. “Do you hear that?” Mumbo asked. Iskall looked over at him. “Hear what? The pistons?” He asked and Mumbo shook his head. 

“No- it’s louder than the pistons-” He paused, looking around for the source of the sound. Iskall didn’t hear anything but the Redstone. “What does it sound like?” Iskall asked. “What does it sound like-“ Mumbo paused and looked over at Iskall. “Do you seriously don’t hear that? The ticking?” Mumbo asked. Iskall glanced at Mumbo’s clock. “You mean that thing? I thought it didn’t work.” 

Mumbo looked down at his necklace. He grabbed hold of his clock and looked at it, turning it around in his red-stained hands. “No, it works- but I’m not talking about this clock. Don’t you hear the ticking?” He began to speak louder as if he couldn’t hear himself. “Iskall?” He shouted. “Iskall?” He let go of the clock, it swung back and forth. “Mumbo? I’m right here- are you okay?”

Mumbo covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut. “The ticking- it’s so loud-” He said quietly this time. Iskall could barely hear him over the pistons. He stepped closer to his new Redstone friend, though Mumbo appeared to want nothing to do with him and stepped back. “Why don’t you hear it?” His voice wavered, shaking slightly. “Why don’t you hear the ticking?”


	7. Chapter 7

The ticking was unbearable.

 

Grian heard it the second he landed at the shopping district. He could hardly hear himself think. The ticking overwhelmed his mind and seemed to cut off all his senses apart from hearing. He was desperate to find out where it was coming from- though, the ticking seemed to be inside his head at all times. He stumbled slightly, struggling to keep balance as he made his way toward spawn. The ticking never stopped.

 

Grian immediately saw what Xisuma was talking about when he arrived at spawn. Xisuma stood in front of a massive crater in the sand. It appeared to be a large Creeper hole- possibly a charged Creeper did it. Grian couldn’t see what was inside the hole from where he stood.

 

Xisuma noticed Grian and gestured for him to walk over. Grian obliged and walked over. “Oh, you’re here. I thought you may have gotten lost,” Xisuma commented. Grian raised a confused eyebrow. He thought he was quite quick at arriving here. It only took him minutes. One quick glance at the sky, however, told him otherwise. It was no longer dawn, but in fact, midday, getting closer to the evening. “Right-“ he began. Where had his time gone? “Sorry about that.” He looked down into the crater.

 

“What is that?” He asked. In the center of the hole, there was a small item. It was an odd blue and yellow clock. It looked exactly like the clock around Grian’s neck, though the colors were switched around, it had no strings attached to it and was a bit larger than the necklace Grian had. “I’m not sure. I’m assuming it’s like the others that we found,” Xisuma told him.

 

Grian tilted his head slightly as if looking at it from another angle would help. “It looks so different. You sure this wasn’t always here?” Grian asked though he knew the answer. He had spawned here many times before and not once did he see a massive hole in the ground.

  


“Positive. It wasn’t here when Mumbo arrived… Only that other one near the border.” Xisuma shook his head. It started when the two had found a crater like this one, though much smaller, a few weeks prior when they took down the border to move on into the next world. Since then, many more small craters started popping up all around Hermitville and around where the old border used to be. They would always stay in the new area though. A few days ago Xisuma went to find the new border, trying to see how big the world was now, and found another crater at the first wall he found.

 

“That’s strange…” Grain shook his head, not understanding what caused this phenomenon.

“This hole is new as well- and I’m sure if the hermits ran into a Creeper they would patch the hole up quickly.” Xisuma went on.

 

“This must be what’s making that loud sound,” Grian stared down at the hole. Xisuma looked at him strangely. “What sound? The clock?” He looked back and Grian nodded. “It doesn’t seem to be making any noise- or working at all really. The sun won’t move from the spot it’s in now.” Xisuma told him. Grian frowned, now he was thoroughly confused. Xisuma had to hear the loud ticking- he _had_ to. The ticking still didn’t stop. Though Grian was a lot more used it now- possibly Xisuma was tuning it out.

 

X hopped down into the hole to get a better look at the clock. Grain tried to grab his shoulder to stop him but was too late. X stared at the clock, focusing at the sun. “Nope, not cycling through the day at all. Yours moves- the other clocks moved as well.” He said and reached out to touch it.

 

“Don’t!” Grian shouted.

 

Xisuma pulled his hand away immediately and looked up at the other. “Don’t touch it- we don’t know what it does,” he glanced down at his own clock. “These clocks we’re finding are different. They aren’t- they aren’t like the ones that can be crafted.” His fingers subconsciously gripped onto the string around his neck. He wanted to rip his clock off. Though, he knew that it was impossible. No matter what he did, the clock wouldn’t leave him- and for that reason, he didn’t want Xisuma to end up in a situation similar to his.

 

Xisuma nodded and backed up. Grian jumped down into the hole next to him. The moment he got close to the clock his own clock began to freak out- much like how it did when he and Mumbo got close the first time. Though, Xisuma didn’t seem to notice that his close was feeding the noise.

 

“We found most clocks in the new area though- and all of them looked like mine. This one is right at spawn _and_ looks different.” Grian pointed out, he tried desperately to ignore the sounds of the clocks like Xisuma did. “It’s rather odd, isn’t it?”

 

Grain nodded. “I’ll grab it. I already have a clock of my own so I should be fine.” He told Xisuma. X hesitated before nodding. “Alright. Though- we shouldn’t tell the other hermits about this clock- or the other clocks for that matter. I don’t want anyone worried.” Xisuma looked down at the clock on the floor. Grian replied with a quiet “Okay,” and reached for the clock.

 

The second his fingers touched the strange clock, the already intense sound somehow got louder. No longer was it an inconvenience that caused Grian to get a headache. It now made everything a major hassle- just holding the clock in his hands felt like he was carrying the weight of the entire world. He felt the energy of the clock and the sound wavelengths course through him. He felt his entire body vibrating and his eardrums pounding with each tick of the clock. The sound was louder than anything Grian had ever heard before.

 

Xisuma said something though Grian couldn’t hear him. He had to have been hearing this- he should have been affected by this. The sound could have probably been heard thousands of blocks away.

 

His body hurt now. His arms were tired, though he couldn’t let go of the clock in his hands. His clock seemed like it was a pole and the other clock was the opposite pole and his arms and body was what was keeping the two from snapping together with insane power.

 

White text appeared on his right. His vision shook with his body, although he was still able to make out words that appeared.

 

Iskall85: Guys, Mumbo is acting weird

 

Xisumavoid: So is Grian. I’m not sure what’s going on here. He won’t respond to me

 

The next message was extremely odd. It wasn’t like one he had ever seen before. The text was yellow, not white like he was used to, and it wasn’t sent by anyone. It just appeared there.

 

**TangoTek has left the world.**


	8. Chapter 8

Each second there would be another tick. With each tick, Grian would feel immense pain. The ticking overworked his mind and he could no longer handle it. His legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground. Xisuma quickly pulled the clock out of his grasp. Fortunately, the clock didn't bother him at all. It was like any other clock. He stuffed the clock into his enderchest in attempt to stop any of its effects that were messing with Grian’s capability.

 

_This wasn’t good._

 

-

 

“-Tango…?” Zedaph stared at the yellow words on his T-Chat. He felt the weight of the words in his chest. He nearly dropped the device. “Where did you-“ his voice trailed off. Zed was currently standing outside his shop. Tango ‘leaving the world’ was the most unexpected thing to happen. It was, up until now, just like any ordinary day. The sun was going to set in a few hours, it was a bit humid from rain during the night, though the sun was bright and the sky was blue. Nothing seemedwrong and it for sure didn’t seem like a day where anything bad would happen.

 

Tango was justhere with Zed a mere second ago. He said that he had something to show and that he would only be a minute- but that was before the yellow text appeared.

 

The T-Chat flooded with messages though Zed didn’t pay attention to them. He walked away from the shop and began looking for Tango. He looked everywhere. Behind shops, in shops, under shops- above shops. No sign of Tango. Zedaph hoped that this was just some silly prank Tango was pulling on him and that he would show up any second now.

 

“Tango?? It’s funny- nice trick- haha- I’m laughing-“ the tone of his voice did not portray joy. He was worried sick. “but- where did you go?” He called out. He leaned against Scar’s crossbow shop and waited to get an answer. He flicked the T-Chat back on.

 

Zedaph: Anyone see Tango???

 

A few hermits replied no. Others continued with the previous conversations and didn’t seem to notice Zed’s message. Xisuma was currently explaining that the yellow text was not a bug in the t-chat that he knew of and that it shouldn’t be possible, and that if Tango found a feature in the system that he should come out from where he was hiding immediately. Iskall talked about Mumbo passing out. Others questioned where Tango had gone.

 

“Zedaph!” yelled a voice. Zed turned around. Impulse was running toward him. “What happened?” He stopped a few blocks away. “Where did Tango go?” He questioned. Zed frowned. “I- don’t know- I swear he was just with me! He just  _vanished_!” Zedaph croaked out, his voice was dry and he hadn’t realized the tears forming in his eyes.

 

Was his friend  _gone-_?

 

Xisumavoid: Guys. The torches are out again.

 

All the torches in the shopping district had stopped admitting light. Zedaph hadn't noticed until now. The torches were still lit, though the flames were useless. Impulse sighed. “We have to get out of here before night. We don’t want mobs spawning and destroying the place.” He muttered. Zedaph nodded and followed Impulse to the nether hub.

 

_Were they still Team ZIT without Tango?_

 

—

 

Shortly after Xisuma had discarded the clock into the void of the chest, Grian began to stir. It took a few seconds before he fully opened his eyes and pushed himself off of the sand. He dusted the sand out of his hair before noticing Xisuma again.

 

“What happened?” He asked. Xisuma paused for a moment, not sure if he wanted to say or not. He stared at the ground. “Check your T-Chat,” was all that he said. He seemed to still be shocked about what had happened.

 

Grian’s blue eye lit up slightly as he read through the previous messages. Memories that occurred right before his blackout came rushing back to him the moment he read the yellow text.

 

“Oh no-“ Grian realized what had happened. He knew  _exactly_  what happened. “Tango didn’t-“ he paused. Before Xisuma asked anything he continued. “Where’s the clock??” He looked around frantically for the blue object. “Relax, I put it away in my EnderChest. It shouldn’t bother you now, right?”

 

Grian shook his head ‘no’. The clock didn’t disappear, that was a good thing- possibly. He quickly read through the chat messages again. Zedaph explained what had happened and Grian stared at the floor. His hands gripped around his clock and he felt tears run down his cheek. Droplets fell onto the sand below. This situation was just like-

 

Just like  _before_.

 

Grian mumbled something. “What was that?” X asked. Grian looked up at him. His red and blue eyes shimmered with tears. He coughed before speaking again.  

 

_“Tango isn’t coming back.”_

 

—

 

Mumbo groaned and rolled over in the sand. Iskall stared at him worryingly. “Hey dude, you okay?” He asked. Mumbo muttered something incoherent into the sand as a reply. He twisted and turned before sitting upright. His head hurt as if he had just fallen and hit something. “My head hurts.” He repeated. “Yeah, I'm sure it does. You took a gnarly fall from up there and got knocked out cold,” Iskall joked, referring to Mumbo’s insane height.

 

Mumbo didn’t reply and Iskall frowned slightly. His joke did not lighten things up. He sighed. “There’s been a lot happening lately. While you were unconscious- one of the hermits ‘left the world’.” Iskall told him.

 

“That’s an issue I assume?” Mumbo looked at his Redstone stained hands. “Yeah, it’s a pretty big issue. This doesn’t happen- or it hasn’t happened, not until now.” Iskall continued.

 

Mumbo glanced over at the Redstone contraptions. The loud ticking had stopped. “Did you hear it?” He glanced over at Iskall. “Did you hear the clock when I was out?” He asked. Iskall frowned and shook his head. “I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. Though it’s probably no coincidence that both you and Grian passed out when Tango- the hermit- left.”

 

The clock on the string ticked slowly. “What are we going to do then?” He stood up. He tried dusting the Redstone off his pants but the dust on his hands only transferred over. The other shrugged. “Some hermits are looking for him. I think I’ll go join in actually-“ Iskall glanced at his T-Chat for a few seconds and Mumbo nodded in understanding.

 

“Glad to have gotten to know you better, Mumbo. If you see a guy with red eyes and blonde hair, say something in the chat.” He took out some rockets. Mumbo waved goodbye slightly before Iskall took off.

 

 _‘Alone again,’_  He thought. Though that was something he was used to. Mumbo stood up and looked around his island. He saw something shimmer in his peripheral vision. When he turned to get a better look at it, the shimmer disappeared.

 

—-

 

It had been a few days since Tango had disappeared. Most of the Hermits spent each day looking for him. The remaining Team ZIT members wouldn’t stop searching for anything. Impulse and Zedaph flooded the chat with messages directed for Tango to come back. They refused to believe that their friend truly did leave the world but instead sent a fancy message and was hiding somewhere.

 

Grian went out searching with Doc and Ren but never went out again. Doc reported that when Grian left his base in search for Tango he acted strangely. Mumbo never left his island. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about the Tango situation- but he was slightly scared of becoming food for the Drowned and he had spent so long trying to get to his island, he never wanted to leave. However, he kept a sharp eye for someone that fit the description of Tango.

 

The other hermits were beginning to lose hope. Groups returned home sooner than later and others stopped going out at all. Eventually, Zed and Impulse had to stop because they needed sleep. Tango disappearing had really taken a toll on Hermitcraft.

 

It wasn’t long until everyone received a message from X in their T-Chat.

 

Xisumavoid: Hello everyone, I believe today is the day where we must say goodbye to Tango

 

Xisumavoid: Please meet me at the shopping district. I have built an area for us all

 

Mumbo stared at the messages in the small box. He knew he should attend but even if he left now, he wouldn’t be able to make it in time.

 

MumboJumbo: Sorry, I can’t make it. I’m too far away and can’t leave

 

He felt sorry. The hermits probably hated him for not joining in on helping to find Tango, and now they most likely hated him even more because he couldn’t even make it the shopping district.

 

Grian: Why didn’t you say anything before? I can help you

 

It only took minutes before Mumbo heard the firing of rockets above his head. Grian landed in the sand next to the Redstone. Mumbo looked over. Grian tossed him an elytra and a few rockets. He picked them up stared at the items, finally able to take a look at them himself. “You- expect me to fly there-? Like how you do?” Mumbo asked quietly, unsure if he was even capable of putting the wings on yet alone launch himself into the sky. Grain nodded. “Yeah, I think you can do it. I mean you can barely run- but- I’m sure you can figure it out,” he smiled politely.

 

Mumbo traced over the feathers of the elytra. He shook his head. “I can’t do it- I don’t know how,” he gave the items back to Grian. Grian sighed. “Thought you might say that. Maybe we can try another day. Here,” he dropped a boat onto the sand. “How did you make that?” Mumbo asked waking over. He picked up the boat and it disappeared into his inventory.

 

“Actually,” Grian flicked through his own inventory. Seconds later he held an odd-looking green book. “This book is pretty interesting. It shows recipes for items,” he tossed it onto the ground. Mumbo picked it up and opened it. He turned the pages and looked through all different sorts of craftable items. “Woah.. this is exactly what I needed. Where did you get this?” Mumbo looked over at Grian and the other shrugged. “I’ve always had it,”

 

Grian looked over in the direction of the shopping district and pointed. “Just place the boat into the water and head that way. I’ll see you soon,” he saluted before heading off into the sky toward that direction.

 

Mumbo put the book at the top of his inventory next to his rose before walking over to the beach. He looked into the water and saw his reflection. He looked so tired and dull. He rubbed his eyes though it didn’t help. He placed the boat into the water and got in.

 

-

 

Most, if not all, the hermits gathered around a clearing in the far side of the shopping district. Stress had dug a small hole and replaced the dirt with gravel and Joe made the situation even more painfully real by placing a stone wall and sign with “RIP Tango” at the end.

 

The group talked quietly among themselves. They all silently hoped that Tango would appear out of nowhere and that everything would be fine. However, as the day went on it was clear he wasn’t going to come back.

 

Xisuma stood behind the makeshift grave and talked first. One by one each of the hermits took his place and said something about Tango, rather than be a fond memory of something they did together, or describing him and what he’d achieved in Hermitcraft. Everyone seemed sad though no one shed any tears. Soon, it was Mumbo’s turn.

 

Mumbo walked over to the gravel. He stared at the tiny grey pebbles and stone wall. The wooden sign gave him an uneasy feeling and he couldn’t help but feel that this was all his fault. He sighed, feeling uncomfortable standing in front of a group where he only knew about five people by name.

 

“I never met Tango, though, how you all describe him, he sounds like a very funny person. It’s a shame that he’s gone, and I wish I could say more-“ he opened his inventory and took out the Rose Away From Home. “In honor of Tango, may he Rest In Peace, wherever that may be.” He placed the rose down next to the stone wall and stepped back, returning to the crowd. Everyone else lowered their head and no one else said a word.

 

As if it was planned, the clouds above crackled and it began to rain. It had been gloomy all day, figuratively and literally, so it came as no surprise to anyone. Most of the Hermits took the rain as a cue to leave and return home. Zedaph and Impulse were the only remaining hermits.

 

-

 

Grian and Mumbo walked toward the beach together without saying a word. Grian had been particularly quiet- more than anyone else. The two stood in the sand together. The rain poured down but they didn’t care. It made no difference. Mumbo stared at his boat that was dragged up onto the shore and Grian stared at his clock.

 

“I know what happened to him,” he suddenly spoke.

 

Mumbo looked over. “Hm? You do?” He asked. Grian nodded. “Or at least I think so-“ he trailed off. Mumbo waited for him to continue. Grian traced his fingers around his clock before speaking again. “I found this clock in my world. I thought it looked cool so I put it on.. it didn’t do anything for a while. I took it off freely but then a few days after I found it, I tried to take it off to hang on my door, it wouldn’t leave me. I would take it off and it would appear in my pocket or back around my neck. It wasn’t a big deal until later that night-“ he coughed, trying to keep himself from getting emotional.

 

Mumbo laid a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to tell me,” he said quietly and the other nodded slightly. “No, it’s okay. I just haven’t said anything about- what happened- since it happened.” He sighed.

 

“It wasn’t bad or anything. I went out exploring with some friends and when we got really far out- it was night so we had to sleep. We didn’t want to deal with any Phantoms or any other mobs so we went to bed. The world-  _glitched-_  during the night- and when I woke up- I was here. Seeing how we all are dealing with Tango’s disappearance only makes me think of how my friends and family reacted to my own absence-“ he let go of his clock and hugged himself. “I miss them a lot..”

 

Mumbo nodded sadly. “I’m sorry that happened,” he looked back toward the ocean. His own hands reached his clock. “I got my clock years ago. It was one of the first- ‘things’ I found in the Far Lands-“ Mumbo paused. “In my world, there are these walls- I believe they can even be so-called ‘glitches’ of the world. I call them the Far Lands. They’re really weird- sometimes they’re cool but other times they’re incredibly dangerous and I’ve died to them many times. I’ve only found them when I’m not looking for them… so I still don’t entirely understand them.” He sighed.

 

“I can’t remember the first time I found them- but it wasn’t good at all. The first half of my life is a blur- but- my second time finding the Far Lands this clock was-“ Mumbo got cut off. “In a crater?” Grian finished his sentence. Mumbo blinked before nodding. “Yeah- it was. Was yours?” He asked and Grian nodded as well.

 

“When I grabbed the clock I put it on. I had no idea what it was- as clocks didn’t exist for a while.. when I put it on I could take it off for a few days and it was super useful knowing when I should start returning home or- when I can leave my night shelters.” He paused. “After a few days though, like you, I couldn’t take it off. It wasn’t a big deal and was really helpful knowing when I died I wouldn’t lose it. The clock was amazing for years. Although- I can’t help but feel upset or even angry at it- as if I’m mad at it for taking something from me but I don’t know what it took- it’s only a clock.” Mumbo stared at the sun in the clock. This wasn’t _only_  a clock.

  


“Fast forward many years later and I find the Far Lands again.. they’re terrifying. I can’t remember why they’re terrifying. All I can remember is something being taken, my mind getting messed with while I’m there, and death. I always end up dying when I went there. And I died- again- but when I respawned... I respawned here.” Mumbo let go of his clock and looked around. Grian hummed.

 

“I think Tango found a clock. He put it on, then took it off. He was going to get it back to show Zedaph- but I bet he couldn’t take it off. Then-“ Grian paused. “Then the world glitched when I- when something happened- because the lights glitched- and then he vanished,” Grian stated. “Tango is trapped in another world like we’re trapped here,” Mumbo put two and two together and Grian nodded.

 

“Exactly- and I’ve spent months here. I know that there isn’t a way back. Tango  _isn’t_  coming back.” Grian stared out into the ocean. The rain caused larger waves than usual and it looked like chaos. The two were now completely soaked. Mumbo felt melancholic as he stared out into the ocean with his friend.

 

_Tango really did leave the world._


	9. Chapter 9

Shortly after the event that took place in the outskirts of the shopping district, all the hermits returned home. Mumbo began his journey across the ocean in heavy rain and Grian flew back quite swiftly. The rest of the day was quiet and gloomy. No one talked in the chat or did much at all. Everyone waited for the sun to set and hoped that the next day would be better than the last. 

 

When Mumbo arrived back at his island he didn’t feel motivated to do much. He dropped down into his bunker and sat there for a while, thinking about what to do next. His base was empty and plain. He leaned against a stone wall and sat there as his clock ticked annoyingly. Frustrated at the clock but more so at himself for being unproductive, he pushed himself up and opened a chest, and took out an iron pickaxe. He might as well try and find some diamonds while he waited out the night. 

 

-

 

Grian didn’t sleep at all that night. He spent his time pacing back and forth next to his farms, not paying attention at all where he was going, and tripping over more shulker boxes than he would like to admit. 

 

_ He had to get the clock back from Xisuma.  _

 

He had to figure out how it worked- he had to understand the clock. If he did, maybe there was a way to bring Tango back- if he had even gone to another time at all. Maybe there was a way he could get back to his world. A way to get everything back to normal. 

 

“No,” he whispered to himself and slumped against the glass of his attempt at an automatic farm. He shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. His clock taunted him with its ticking. It made fun of him. It laughed at him for even thinking such a stupid idea. There was no way out of where it put you. 

 

That didn’t stop Grian from wanting the blue clock anyway though. 

 

He stared at his floor in defeat. His homesickness was getting to him. As much as he loved hermitcraft and all the friends it brought- it wasn’t where he belonged. He belonged at his somewhat small apartment complex with his best friends. He missed roaming the hundreds of new biomes and temples in his world. He missed building with all the different blocks his world provided him. He missed his world, and he belonged there. 

 

Grian sighed. He needed fresh air. Possibly restocking his shop would be best. He stood up and walked over to his various shulker boxes. He rummaged around for a few minutes looking for his supply of quartz, gravel, and sand before taking off towards the shopping district. 

 

He landed outside his cart and checked to see if he had made any diamonds. Unfortunately, he did not. Although that was because he hadn’t restocked the shop in weeks, possibly even months. He dumped the various items into the chests in the cart and stepped back. 

 

“Hey, Grian!” A familiar voice called for him. Grian turned around. Ren was walking down the street making his way over. He waved. “Hey mannn,” Ren said in a dragged out tone as if he wasn’t entirely here but rather daydreaming. Grian smiled slightly. “Hey Ren,” he greeted. Ren stared at him offended. “Ren? I don’t know a Ren, man.” He laughed. Grian took a moment to realize Ren’s outfit. He was wearing a typical hippy outfit. “Ooh, right, hi Renbob, my bad,” he rolled his eyes jokingly. 

 

Renbob smiled smugly. “I was looking for you, man. You got any eggs I can have or buy off you, man?” He asked. “And why would I have any eggs?” Grian asked. ”You should ask the man in the chicken costume!” He laughed. Renbob laughed with him. “I would, I would, but it’s difficult getting ahold of Poultryman these days, man,” he explained. 

 

Grian nodded. “Ah, I see. Well, unfortunately, I don’t have any left. I gave my remaining eggs to Mumbo,” He quickly checked his inventory to see if he had a random egg. Though, for once, he didn’t. Ren shook his head. “Awh shame. Why’d you give the new guy eggs? I would’ve bought them off you,” his voice shifted back to his regular tone and he showed a diamond that was in his hand. Grian chuckled. “We kinda turned most of them into chickens so I don’t think I’m getting any back. Plus, it was a gift for him for taking the spot as a new hermit and replacing me. Why you need eggs anyway?”

 

“I’m making some cakes but I realized I don’t have any eggs. I figured you would have some though. Also- giving eggs as a gift? Well I mean-” Ren tutted jokingly. “Mumbo wears torn up clothes all the time and- well, unless it’s his style, I think you should do to him what you did to me, minus the flower crowns,” he gestured to his outfit. “And then, once you do that, I can get some eggs,” he winked.

 

“Next time I get my hands on some eggs, I’ll be sure to bring them straight over to you, Ren.” Grian laughed. “And yeah- I suppose I can do that. I am a talented fashion designer after all.” He grinned. “Hey- and speaking of eggs and cakes- They don’t seem very vegan, Renbob,” He smiled slyly. Ren pondered for a moment before switching over to his Renbob voice. “Mann, I’m not vegan anymore, I’m a vegetarian, man!” He took a massive bite out of a golden carrot and saluted before backing away out of the scene, leaving Grian standing outside his cart not really understanding what had just happened. 

 

“Ow, my teeth!” He heard Ren shout from behind the dead coral shop. “Golden carrots are tough, man!”

 

Grian shook his head, laughing. Ren always managed to lighten the mood and make things seem better in times where it wasn’t. Grian smiled faintly and took off toward the direction of his base. Hermitcraft was his home, and as much as he missed his old world, he was okay with where he was now. 

 

-

 

Mumbo had been mining for hours. He wasn’t able to find any diamonds anywhere. He had expanded his base out a decent amount. Though all he found was coal, iron, and the occasional redstone or gold. Mumbo figured that he would have to go down deeper in order to find diamonds. 

 

He checked his chests for any ladders though he found none. He didn’t have enough wood for sticks either. There weren’t many trees on his island so he couldn’t make more. However, his treehouse did have a few ladders. Mumbo grabbed a few wooden slabs to replace the ladders and climbed up to the surface. He retrieved the ladders that hung against the tree trunk and made a spiraling staircase. He had to admit, the staircase was probably one of the coolest things he’s built so far- not including redstone- and frankly, he was proud of it. 

 

He didn’t stay on the surface for long though. He dropped down the hole of ladders and began to mine deeper, placing the ladders he had as he went. He didn’t have to go far until he found himself in a strange two block high tunnel. There were torches running along the sides and the tunnels branched off into several different directions. “What in the world-“ He muttered, looking around. 

 

Mumbo began walking through the tunnel he fell in. It looked like it went on for ages. Even squinting he couldn’t see the end. He couldn’t figure out if these were man-made tunnels or something that appeared in the future. He wanted to see how long these tunnels went on for, so he continued to walk. 

 

For the most part, the tunnels were boring. They would occasionally run into caves but it appeared that the caves were already explored. Mumbo soon lost interest and the number of tunnels that went off in random directions made him overwhelmed. He wished that he had never stepped foot in these tunnels. Although, soon enough, Mumbo came across another ladder. The tunnels still went on from where the ladder was. Though the ladder was far more interesting, so he climbed. 

 

The ladder went into a small room that appeared to be under construction or blocked off entirely. It had a white ceiling of the block that Mumbo recognized was concrete and the rest of the room looked like a cave that had been sectioned off. Mumbo walked over to a small area of the room where he could touch the ceiling. He took out his pickaxe and carefully mined a block of concrete and pillared up to the next room. He immediately recognized the place to the bottom floor of Grian’s base. 

 

He quickly replaced the block, slightly worrying that he may have ruined it, and covered it by standing on it. Grian had to be somewhere around here unless he had gone out. 

 

As if right on time, Mumbo heard Grian’s voice. “Why hello there, Mumbo Jumbo, I see you’ve found yourself in my base!” Mumbo looked up to see Grian on the edge of the second floor, peering over to look at him. He appeared to be wearing a different outfit to what he normally wore. Mumbo awkwardly waved. “Oh- Sorry- I found these weird tunnel things and I followed them here.” He explained. 

 

“My strip mines?” Grian asked and fluttered down to the bottom floor with the help of his elytra. “Oh yeah, I guess they would connect to your base,” he pondered. “But what a coincidence you came here! I didn’t have to drag you over,” he laughed and played with some sort of long yellow measuring tape that hung around his neck and shoulders. “I’ve got something for you,” he walked over to a grey shulker box that sat in the middle of the room away from the others. 

 

Mumbo raised an eyebrow. “ _ Another _ gift? You’re sure making it so that I owe you something in the future, huh?” He asked, and took a step forward. Although, before he was able to walk over, Grian shooed him away and opened the shulker box. “Ehh, I’ve seen the redstone you somehow managed to make after Iskall taught you how it worked once. I could never do that. Maybe you can fix my broken farm,” he gestured over to a large pillar-like structure that was made of glass and had many layers of crops. Mumbo shrugged. “Haven’t gotten that advanced yet but I can try,”

 

Grian shook his head and hushed him. “It’s okay, but you see, Mr. Mumbo Jumbo,” he readjusted the cuffs of his outfit. “I’m the most talented tailor of all of hermitcraft, and I couldn’t help but notice how- well- for lack of a better word-  _ plain _ your outfit is,” he said, obviously joking around. Mumbo chuckled. “We nearly always wear the same outfit! Just change the colors up a bit and give me a jac-“ he was hushed once again by his friend. 

 

“No, no no, don’t worry about it. I’ll have you looking snazzy in no time,” he reached into the shulker box and grabbed a pile of red and blue clothes. He tossed them over to Mumbo. “There you go-“ he walked back and began placing trapdoors between the two of them as some sort of divider. “Try those on and I’m sure you'll love it!” 

 

“Right now??” Mumbo asked. Grian nodded before realized that the other couldn’t see him. “Uh- yeah! You came here, so right now seems to be the best time.” He chuckled. Mumbo shook his head ‘ _ oh, of course, we’re doing this right now _ ’ he thought and quickly changed into the clothes. He tossed his own clothes over the top of the trapdoors. 

  
  
  


“Uhh- Grian.” Mumbo laughed, walking out from behind the divider. He wore the outfit Grian would normally wear. A red jumper and jeans. The sweater was  _ way _ too small on him and the jeans didn’t even go down to his ankles. “These clothes don’t even fit me-“ he laughed at how ridiculous he must’ve looked. Grian nearly fell to the floor at the sight of his tall friend. “I don’t understand- those clothes look all right! You can keep them, I have about fifty replicas anyway!” He covered his mouth, hiding his smile. 

 

“Grian,  _ why  _ would you have fifty replicas of the same clothes?” Mumbo asked and the other shrugged. “Why don’t  _ you _ ?” He retorted. “Because why would I need fifty red shirts and fifty jeans??” He laughed, walking back behind the divider to get changed back into his clothes... “Oh no you don’t, come back here,” Grian unraveled the measuring tape from around his neck. 

 

“I guess, if I must, I should get you some clothes that actually fit you.” He said and walked over. Grian held the measurer upside down and measured useless things about Mumbo. “Ever wonder how long your mustache is?” He asked, bringing the measuring tape close to Mumbo’s face. “Or maybe how far your ears are away from your eyes-“ he wrapped the tape around the other’s head. “Or maybe-“ he was cut off. “Do you even know how to measure a person properly?” Mumbo asked. Grian shook his head. “Nope!” 

 

After a few more moments of Grian messing around and the two nearly dying of laughter, Grian stepped back. He reached into his dyed grey shulker box and looked through various different clothes for a few seconds before taking out what appeared to be a white dress shirt, a red tie, and some black pants. “Okay, got it!” He handed the new clothes over. 

 

Mumbo stared at them for a few moments. “ _H_ -“ he shook his head. “Okay, fine, I’ll put these on,” he pushed Grian away from the divider so that he could get dressed. Grian walked away, looking quite pleased with himself and the outfit he got Mumbo. 

  
  


“How did you manage to find an outfit that fits me perfectly- just by measuring my  _ face _ ??” Mumbo asked, walking out from behind the trapdoors. Grian turned around to face him and grinned. “A magician never reveals his tricks-“ he said. “But I thought you were a tailor-? Y’know what- never mind-“ he quickly tied his tie and admired his clothes. He felt a lot better wearing new clothes- rather than clothes he was given from the moment he began existing. He wore a fairly simple outfit. A white shirt and black pants with a tie that matched his eyes fairly well. However, he felt like he was missing something. 

 

Mumbo reached for his old clothes and grabbed his jacket. Once he put it on and buttoned it up, he looked complete. Strangely enough, he felt like  _ himself _ . He suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotion. This outfit was familiar though he couldn’t understand why. He couldn’t  _ remember  _ why. 

 

He suppressed his other emotions and looked over at Grian and smiled. “And I can keep this outfit too, no charge?” He asked. The other nodded happily. Mumbo glanced down at himself. “Thank you..” he spoke quietly while he adjusted his tie to fit his jacket. “I appreciate it, really,”

 

Grian shook his head. “Oh no, it’s no problem.” He rewrapped the measuring tape around his neck. “Just doing my job,” he smiled. 

 

Grian began to take down the trapdoors and Mumbo’s eyes drifted to his own clock. He picked it up. What was he forgetting- what couldn’t he remember-?

 

-

 

Thousands upon thousands of blocks away in HermitVille. She was wandering near a river searching for foxes and berry bushes. As she was walking, there was a shimmer in the corner of her eye. It twinkled as the sun reflected off of its surface. She didn’t know what it was- though, it was fascinating. She reached for it, trying to see what was partially sticking out of the dirt. Though, before she got too close, the shimmer exploded, much like a Creeper. She pulled her hand back in alarm and stared at what was in the middle of the hole. It was a clock attached to a string. She picked it up and wore it around her neck like a trophy. The clock ticked quietly and sparkled. 

 

_ It was like no clock she had ever seen before.  _

 


	10. Chapter 10

Grian was conflicted.

 

Part of him absolutely loved hermitcraft. The other part he wished for nothing more than to go back to his world. He didn’t know what to do. To stay in hermitcraft or return home. Not that he had much of a choice on rather to stay or go. He was stuck in hermitcraft. The blue clock was possibly his only way out- and he didn’t even have it or knew how it worked. 

 

Grian sighed and flew all around the main island. Flying with his elytra was probably one of his favorite things to do. It helped him take his mind off of things. He weaved himself in between shops and houses, he flew high into the sky and dived down at insane speeds, and he dipped and spun in the air. He was a talented flyer. 

 

It had been a few days since he gave Mumbo a new outfit and exactly a week since Tango’s disappearance. Some of the hermits still had hope that he was coming back. Others, not so much. Though they all knew that Tango was no longer in the world. 

 

Grian fired off another rocket and swept under a few trees before heading off into a direction of where he thought Xisuma should be. X had been working on building skyscrapers and towers and Grian hadn’t seen them yet. 

 

He also wanted the blue clock. He was going to use the clock to get hom- no- he was going to use the clock to bring Tango back. That's why he wanted it. 

 

While flying, Grian noticed a shimmer on the ground below. “Wha-“ he looked down, trying to see the mysterious shine. Possibly someone had dropped some metal on the ground and he could get some free materials. He tried to turn around but he was flying so fast that it obstructed his path. He twisted and turned in ways he didn’t want to and lost control of where he was going. Grian tried getting some more rockets to get him flying upwards again but before he knew it-

 

**Grian experienced kinetic energy**

 

_ He went splat into a massive grey blur of a building.  _

 

Iskall85: good job ‘hermitcrafts most talented flyer’ lol

 

Grian laid on the sand of spawn for a few seconds recollecting his thoughts before pushing himself up. He groaned and rubbed his sore shoulder before replying. 

 

Grian: shut it, I didn’t mean to

 

Xisumavoid: are you okay? You just went straight into my tower haha 

 

Grian: yeah I’m fine. Can you get my stuff?

 

Xisumavoid: got it. It’s in a blue shulker box 

 

Grian sighed and began making his way back on foot. This was unfortunate. 

  
  


It took him a lot longer than expected to get back to the small city Xisuma had been building. He walked up and retrieved his stuff before fully admiring the structures. They were a lot nicer than what he had seen moments before death.

 

Xisuma was on top of one of the buildings. Grian walked over the supply of building blocks and waved for X to come down. 

 

“Nice towers!” He called as Xisuma glided down to him. “Thanks, been working on these nonstop,” he laughed. Grian nodded and sat down on one of the shulker boxes. “So you said you have the blue clock, right?” He looked over at the enderchest and Xisuma nodded. “Yeah, why?” He asked. 

 

“I want the blue clock, can I have it back?” Grian asked. X looked away and shrugged. “Uhh— I dunno,” he laughed slightly. Grian frowned.  “I need the blue clock, Xisuma,” he said. 

 

Xisuma looked back at him. “You sure that’s a good idea? You  _ passed _ out last time you were near it.” He pointed out. Grian could hear his own heartbeat over his clock’s ticking. He just wanted the clock, was that too much to ask for? Grian spoke with a shaky voice. “Xisuma, I- I  _ need _ the clock.” His hands were trembling. He needed it. He needed to find out how to use it. He needed the clock. 

 

Xisuma knitted his eyebrows, seemingly suspicious. “Why? Why do you need a clock that’s obviously damaging to you?” He asked gesturing to Grian’s shaking hands. Grian frowned slightly and looked at his hands. Why were they shaking? Why was his heart beating so rapidly?  Why was he so worked up over a clock? 

 

Why did he need it so much? 

 

“You don’t- just- fine I won’t touch it. Drop it into my enderchest.” He finally said. Xisuma shook his head, chuckling. “Grian, Enderchests don't work like that-“ 

 

“Right. Yeah. Of course.” Grian cut him off. “They’re a bit different from where I come from. Anyway, give me the clock. Put in into a shulkerbox or anything. Just, let me have the clock, Xisuma.” He said, standing up off of the shulkerbox. Xisuma stared back at him, slightly concerned. “No, you’re not getting it. You’re obsessed with the dang thing.” He explained. 

 

Grian sighed and clenched his hands into fists. “I- may be able to get Tango back if I have that clock. Don’t you want him back?” He asked. Xisuma frowned. “Yes, I do. But we don’t know what happens when you exposed to the clock for too long. I don’t know what would have happened to you if I didn’t put the clock in my enderchest.” 

 

Grian ran a hand through his hair. All he wanted was that clock. “Why won’t you give me the clock??” He questioned. “I don’t trust you with it! You’re going to hurt yourself!- or cause another person to leave the world!” Xisuma told him. 

 

Grian paused. He didn’t cause Tango to leave the world- did he? He shook his head and narrowed his eyes, looking back over at Xisuma. 

 

“It’s  _ just _ a clock!”

 

The enderchest rumbled in its place, vibrating and shaking. 

 

_ It was not just a clock.  _

 

The enderchest lit up and its surrounding area exploded as if a firecharge had hit it. Flames erupted in the new pit. The chest floated in the center and opened. 

 

Grian and Xisuma started in fear- as the clock lifted itself out of the chest and then vanished. 

 

“NO!” Grian yelled and jumped into the pit. He dug through the sand and dodged fire, looking for the clock. “Yeah, it’s ‘just a clock’.” Xisuma shook his head. Grian sighed and sat in the middle of the sand. The moment the clock had vanished he felt fine. No longer was he upset and obsessive over it. It was as if any negative emotion he was feeling had vanished with the clock. However, he felt slightly disappointed that the clock was gone. 

 

Now no one had it. 

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I made a discord for this fic. Join it if you'd like! https://discord.gg/X3W6baX

The ticking was back.

Not the regular ticking from Mumbo’s clock. That had never left since that one time at night. Though, Mumbo was fairly certain now that he had just tuned out the ticking in a moment of panic. This ticking was the ticking he heard the day Tango left. It was just as loud as it was the first time, though, Mumbo didn’t feel very affected by it. Maybe that was because he had already felt the ticking and passed out. He didn’t know and he didn’t really care. He was able to ignore it so it was fine.

* * *

 

It was a clear sunny day in hermitcraft. Mumbo had spent his morning mining and was finally able to find a few diamonds. Now that he had diamonds, he wasn’t exactly sure what to do. He paced around the stone room of his underground base thinking. He could make more redstone contraptions and try to figure out more things. He glanced around. He could also decorate his base a bit better.

When he climbed to the surface, he was not surprised to see that no new trees had grown on his island. He also didn’t want to destroy his first base for the sake of wood. His eyes darted around to everything on his island. Redstone, sand, grass, a tree, more sand- a boat. He had docked his boat on the beach.

Mumbo walked over to his boat and didn’t hesitate before getting in. He was going to venture off to other places and find new types of wood and possibly more things to decorate with. He pushed himself off the shore and into the water. He swayed back and forth for a few seconds before taking out a shovel as a makeshift paddle and began to drift away.

His T-chat buzzed, signifying that someone was talking. He pulled the little device from his pocket and checked what was going on.

WelsKnight: anyone got coords for the shopping district? I went out a bit too far out in the opposite direction of Hermitville

Stressmonster101: I don’t but I have the ones for my base

WelsKnight: can I have them?

He didn’t really know Wels or Stress all that much so he put the T-Chat back into his pocket and began rowing again.

He didn’t even make it a few hundred blocks away into the ocean before he was stopped by a shout coming from the sky. He looked up and to no one’s surprise, he saw Grian. Grian dived down into the water next to him, causing a massive splash. Mumbo wasn’t sure how such a small person was able to make such a large splash- though he was more concerned about the water now filling his boat.

“Gah— Grian! Why-“ His boat was slowly sinking. Grian floated in the water and tutted. “I can’t take this no more,” He said. Mumbo looked at him confused. “Yeah? I can’t either. My shoes are soggy now.” Mumbo complained. Grian rolled his eyes. “Not that. Well not exactly- I’m talking about you taking your boat everywhere. It’s honestly quite sad. You need to learn how elytras work,” Grian laid over on his back in the water, his arms and legs spread wide so that he could float better. Mumbo shook his head. “Nope. Not doing that. Thanks.” He said. Grian chuckled.

“Nah, it’ll help you in the long run. Plus once you learn you can try out my elytra course! Only a diamond per every two tries!” He pointed out. Mumbo continued to shake his head. “I have a few elytras at my base. Head over there and we can learn to fly,” he smiled.

“No thanks. I’m staying here.” Mumbo replied. Grian shrugged. “Then I’ll stay here,” The waves pushed his body up and down and whatever Mumbo would say would cut off as his ears went under the water.

“And I'm okay with that. I wasn’t going anywhere anyway. I’m happy in my usually dry boat, thank you very much- Grian? Are you even listening to me-?” Mumbo leaned over and cupped water into his hands before tossing the water at Grian’s face. Grian coughed and rolled over, spitting out water in the process. “What was that for? I’m trying to help you!” He laughed.

“Will flying on an elytra actually be better?” Mumbo asked. He had to admit, as much as elytras scared him, it was cool seeing other hermits flying around with them. Grian nodded. “It’s so much better! It’s the best way of transportation in this time. They’re 100% better in the future though,”

Mumbo sighed. He had to make progress eventually. “Okay fine, I’ll put one on. Only put it on though. I’m not flying around with it.” He chuckled. Grian grinned and took out some fireworks, careful not to get them wet, and took off to the skies. Mumbo sighed and began rowing his still slowly sinking boat over to Grian’s base.

It didn’t take very long, considering Grian’s base was close. Mumbo jumped off of his boat and onto one of the bridges of the base. Grian leaned against one of the entrances and waved. “Hah! This was all a trick for you to figure out how to fix my farm!” He exclaimed once Mumbo had walked over.

Mumbo glanced over at the farm. “Really??” He shook his head, laughing. “Nah, but since you’re here, maybe you can check it out? Honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing and every good redstoner is off doing something and don’t want me near redstone,” Grian huffed and tossed Mumbo a shulkerbox worth of redstone items.

Mumbo placed the shulkerbox and briefly took a look at the items and then back at the farm. Automatic farms felt oddly familiar- though he had never made one before. “I suppose I can try. What seems to be the problem?” He asked. “It isn’t producing any potatoes. They’re supposed to end up here-“ he pointed to a chest with a hopper on top of it. “-but they aren’t and I don't know what’s wrong.”

Mumbo hummed and walked over to the chest. He noticed a bunch of potatoes and carrots were resting on top of the hopper and not going in. He had learned that items usually go into hoppers- unless they were full. He looked inside the hopper and more vegetables were stored inside it. “Have you bothered checking your chest?” He asked, breaking the hopper in the process. Stacks upon stacks of vegetables flew everywhere, along with the hopper. Mumbo opened the chest and sighed. The chest was filled with eggs. “Huh, no wonder.” He said.

Grian walked over and looked inside the chest. “Oh, I do have more eggs! I thought I must’ve. I don’t usually run out of eggs, you see,” he began taking the eggs out of the chest and into his inventory for whatever reason. Mumbo replaced the hopper and watched as the carrots and potatoes began to fill the chest once again. “Well that was easy,” he chuckled.

“Now I feel stupid. Of course, the chest was full. Hmph.” Grian shook his head and emptied the eggs from his inventory into another shulkerbox. “I’ll make sure to come to you next time I need something redstone related fixed. You live so close by so it'll be great. Now, let’s get into the elytra, hm?” He looked over and smiled. “Oh, I thought we weren’t doing that-“

Before Mumbo was able to protest anymore, Grian tossed him a spare elytra and a few rockets. It took a few tries figuring out where the straps were, though, he found them and strapped the wings onto his back. “How does this thing even work?” He asked, picking up the rockets.

“You take some rockets and pull on this little string,” Grian grabbed his own rockets and pointed to a string that was dangling from the bottom. “Once you pull it, you want to jump, and then the rocket will fire. That’ll get you into the air. It may take a few rockets.” He explained. Grian tugged onto the string and then the bottom of the rocket shot off. He immediately jumped and was quickly shot into the air.

Mumbo watched in amazement as Grian glided around in circles above him before landing nearby. “Let’s see if you can do the same. Try and make it to the top up there!” He pointed through the center of his base to the very top.

“You don’t really expect me to do that, do you?” Mumbo looked over at Grian. He was nodding and smiling. Mumbo sighed. It couldn’t hurt to try.

He grabbed hold of the string of one of the rockets and tried pulling it. The string wouldn’t budge. “Oh, sometimes they do that, you just gotta pull harder.” Grian chimed in.

Mumbo pulled down the string as hard as he could manage and the rocket exploded into his face with a loud ‘pop!’ “What the?!” He stepped back in alarm. White smoke and rocket powder covered his face. Grian was laughing like a mad man. “Did you plan this??” Mumbo questioned.

”Ye-yeah, here’s some real rockets,” he said in between laughter and gave Mumbo some of his own rockets. Mumbo squinted his eyes and inspected the rockets. “Is everything a trick today?” He asked. Grian snickered. “No, but you have to admit, that was so funny.” He stepped back. “Oh ha ha, yes, soo funny.” Mumbo rolled his eyes and tried pulling the string again.

This time the bottom of the rocket fell off easily and Mumbo tried to time it by jumping. Before he knew it, he took off into the air. Although he didn’t get very far. The elytra didn’t open and he fell to the floor, tripping on his feet. “Ow-“ Mumbo fell over on the ground, the elytra sliding off his back in the process. Grian walked over. “You Okay?” He asked and helped him up. “You have to jump sooner,” he laughed.

“You really like helping me, huh?” Mumbo adjusted the straps of the elytra back to fit him. Grian shrugged. “I just like helping people. It’s what I used to do where I come from. Plus, it’s hilarious seeing your reactions to stuff,” Grian snickered. Mumbo huffed and ignored Grian’s laughter. So what if he didn’t fully understand anything that wasn’t redstone.

He took out a new rocket and tried doing the same thing again, this time, he jumped in unison when he pulled the string. The elytra decided it wanted to work this time and it opened, allowing Mumbo to glide.

Being in the air was a lot more fun than Mumbo had expected. He zoomed around on the first floor of the base, unable to get himself up through the hole in the center. Though, he didn’t mind. “I did it!!” He exclaimed and looked down at Grian. “I’m in the air!” He shouted. Grian waved his arms. “Great, but watch out!!” He yelled.

Mumbo looked back in front of him and saw that he was getting close to the walls. He quickly turned but was met with the giant glass wall of the farm he had previously fixed. He face-planted into the glass. The impact caused the elytra to close and for him to fall. Grian watched as his friend fell. “Mumbo, the rockets!” He tried to tell him but it was too late. Mumbo had no armor, and he especially didn’t have any feather falling boots.

**MumboJumbo hit the ground too hard**

The text flashed across the screen of everyone’s T-chat and Grian’s vision.

WelsKnight: rippp

JoeHillsSays: Ah yes first death. I remember my first death

Iskall85: LOL rip

Grian: I warned you to watch where you were going!

Iskall85: someone separate those two. Grian is a bad role model.

Grian: I warned him!

Xisumavoid: you literally died yesterday due to not watching where you were going lol

Grian: >:(

Mumbo woke up at spawn. He hadn’t checked his T-chat to see what the hermits were talking about. He wasn’t even aware he still had his t-chat in his pocket. Though he couldn’t think properly enough to check.

The ticking that he had been ignoring all day was louder than ever. It forced itself into his mind. His own clock was going insane. It was ticking in unison to the other, much louder, ticking. “Gah!” He covered his ears and tried to stand up but the sand was caving in into a large hole next to him.

Glancing into the hole, he saw another clock. Though, this one was different. It was blue as if the colors of a regular clock got inverted. What would normally be the sun, was a royal blue, and the sky was yellow. The clock seemed familiar- as if he had seen it before long ago. He felt the same familiarity he got from building complex redstone. It felt like one of the memories he could no longer remember. It seemed familiar... and he didn’t know why.

Mumbo moved back away from the clock in the hole and stood up. He finally checked his pockets and pulled out his T-chat. He didn’t question how it even got back into his pocket in the first place, especially since he died hundreds of blocks away and all his other stuff was there. He briefly looked over what everyone was saying, though the ticking made it difficult. Mumbo could see his vision slowly fading.

WelsKnight: Nice base, Stress! I can see it from here. I love castles

StressMonster101: haha yeah I can tell you’re dressed as a knight. Mind if I give you a tour? Been working really hard on this build

He didn’t read that much before typing out something of his own.

MumboJumbo: Hey guys, I found a weird blue clock

Almost instantly, Grian replied.

Grian: Where?? At spawn??

Mumbo quickly replied with ‘Yeah’ and waited. He glanced over at the clock. The ticking seemed to worsen when he was looking at it. He felt like his ears were bleeding. Despite the ticking hurting his head, he walked toward the clock, reaching out for it.

Before he could grab it, he heard fires of rockets. He glanced up, pulling his hands away. The ticking had worsened even more with the company of Grian and his clock. Grian quickly landed. “Where is it-“ his eyes looked in the hole. He darted over, nearly pushing Mumbo out of the way, and went to grab the clock for himself without saying a word.

Mumbo watched as Grian began to shake violently with the clock in his hands. “Grian!” He tried to reach for the clock to take it away. Grian shut his eyes, he still didn’t stop shaking. All three clocks were glowing now. The blue clock glowed the brightest.

Mumbo grabbed onto the blue clock, trying to pull it away. Though, touching the clock was a mistake.

—-

Stress was showing Wels around her base. “I love this project so much! I tried bringing some foxes here but I couldn’t find any in Hermitville.” She sighed. Wels nodded. “Oh, I’ve been exploring out in the new area a bit. I’m going out again so I’ll let you know if I find any,” He said. “Okay, thanks! I’ve also been exploring. I found something really cool in hermitville!” She led him down a hall. “What you find?” Wels asked but Stress kept walking until she made it to a room where the clock is hanging on a wall.

“What’s that?” Wels questioned. “A clock. I found it in the ground. It’s very pretty, isn’t it? I thought it would go perfect right there.” She smiled. Wels nodded and walked closer. He noticed how it was hung up by a string and not in an item frame. “It looks like some sort of necklace or amulet,” he pointed out. Stress nods. “Oh, it is, I put it on a few days ago but I wanted to put it up here,” she explained. “Mind if I put it on?” Wels asked. “Sure go ahead, just put it back please,”

Wels nodded and took the clock down from where it was hanging and put it over his head. “Look at me, I’m-“ he paused. “Do you hear that-?” He asked. A loud ticking came from all directions. He brought the clock next to his ear, trying to tell if that was what caused the loud noise. Though, the loud ticking wasn’t coming from the clock at all. “No-?” Stress shook her head. “I don’t hear anything,”

Wels fell silent. “Really? It’s this loud sound- this intense ticking. I swear it’s coming from all directions,” he spun around, listening and trying to find the source of the ticking. “You must be joking, you’re wearing a clock, of course, you’re going to hear ticking,” She giggled. Wels shook his head, “No- that isn’t it-“ he pulled the clock over his head, immediately the ticking stopped. “It’s gone,” he hung the clock back onto the wall. As soon as he said that, he heard the ticking again.

Stress shook her head. “Okay,” She laughed, she wasn’t taking him seriously. “Can I have my clock back? I think it’s messing with you,” she chuckled. “What-? I just put it-“ he looked down. The clock was back around his neck as if he had never taken it off. “What the-“ he took it off again and put it back on the wall. The clock appeared back around his neck seconds later. “I’m trying-“ he handed the clock to Stress. “Thanks,” she went to hang it up but it vanished out of her hands. “How-?” She stared at the clock on Wels, bewildered. Wels shrugged. “I’m not doing anything, I swear-“ he told her. “My goodness- the ticking- it’s so- I can’t-“ he covered his ears. The ticking was so painful. Before he knew it-

**WelsKnight Has left the world**

Stress’s eyes widened in horror. Her friend had just vanished right before her eyes. The clock appeared around her own neck. “No! Get off!” She panicked, pulling the necklace off and tossing it as far away as she could. It hit a wall and shattered. “Oh no-“ Stress looked down. The shattered clock was back. The ticking was violent. It seemed angry at her. She had made a mistake. A big one for that matter.

**StressMonster101 has left the world**

 

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

_ “IT WORKED! Yes, it worked!!” Mumbo heard a voice yell happily. The person who owned the voice was staring down at him with an expression of glee. Another person was nearby. They, however, did not look so happy. “..we got a kid.” He muttered. “A kid won’t know any redstone. Humph.” He continued. Mumbo didn’t say a word. He was confused. Where was he? _

 

_ The room he was in was decorated with all sorts of buttons, levers, and some sort of glowing red sand. Mumbo, in all of his life, had never seen anything so strange before.  _

 

_ “We can always teach him! The clock brought him here and we got control of the clock! What difference does it make if we have gotten an old person- the clock worked for us!” The first guy smiled, the other sighed.  _

 

_ “Fine. Stand up, Kid,” he pointed to Mumbo. Mumbo quickly stood up. He opened his mouth to say something but was spoken over almost immediately. “Do you know redstone?” The second guy asked. Mumbo shook his head. The other hummed, disappointed. “Come, follow me, we’ll give you a tour and you can meet the others,” he gestured for Mumbo to follow.  _

 

—

 

Mumbo slowly opened his eyes.  _ Ticking _ . 

There was a faint soft ticking. It ticked inside his mind. He felt it, it was in unison to his own heartbeat. The ticking wasn’t loud at all. It was more like white noise, able to be forgotten about easily enough. Though his head hurt and his vision was cloudy, he could barely see anything at all. He was no longer at spawn- or at least he wasn’t sitting in the sand. He appeared to be sitting on a large pirate boat near shore. 

 

“Oh so you’re finally awake,” a voice called over. Mumbo sat up and glanced over. It was False. “You sure have changed, huh?” She asked. Mumbo tilted his head slightly, confused.

 

He glanced down at himself and realized what she was talking about. His clothing has changed entirely. His suit was blue instead of black and the pockets were trimmed with yellow fabric. His dress shirt was a light cream yellow, his tie was a darker, more golden yellow. He also wore bright golden gloves- something he had never worn before. 

  
  


“When did I change-?” Mumbo asked himself under his breath, though, False had heard him. She shrugged. “It’s not just a change of clothes. Your eyes changed too.” She told him. 

 

If Mumbo were to see himself in a reflection, he would find out that his eyes had changed more notably than his clothes. His scleras were grey, darker than the usual white. His left eye’s pupil was a light grey clock, not like the clocks in the world though. The clock had no sun or moon, day or night. It only had two hands that spun around not telling the time at all, completely disregarding the right eye that told the time with his necklace. His right eye was a normal clock. 

 

False pointed to a body on the other side of her and Mumbo. Grian laid on the deck, curled in on himself. His clothes had changed as well. A bright yellow sweater with a blue collar, a single blue glove, and his elytra- Mumbo squinted his eye’s to get a better look. He wasn’t sure of it- but Grian’s elytra appeared to not be strapped onto him at all, though it was clearly on. The colors had changed as well, it was closer to the regular elytras that everyone else wore, though bluer and had light blue flight feathers. 

 

“He hasn’t woken up yet. Cleo and I have been watching you two for the past few weeks. All the hermits were scared you weren’t even going to wake up- and Grian only recently stopped shaking.” False went on. Mumbo glanced back over at her. “Weeks? How long was I unconscious for?” He asked. False hummed, thinking. “Possibly three weeks or so? Joe has stopped by to keep track of things though, he should know.” 

 

Mumbo nodded. False glanced down at the ship’s wooden boards, feeling very saudade. “A lot has happened in those three weeks. Hermits had vanished..” She spoke quietly as if she didn’t want to hear herself say it. “First it was Wels, then Stress.. a week later it was Python, then Jessassin- and finally Biffa just a few days ago. People have been leaving the world so quickly-“ she frowned. Mumbo glanced down. 

 

“And I don’t know what’s causing it- I don’t know how to stop it either. No one does..” she paused. “I fear all of us will vanish one day and they’ll be no one left,” she chuckled softly at the end, not a happy chuckle, but a hollow laugh, like she realized the reality of how possible that was- and how  _ scary _ it was. 

 

False suddenly shook her head. “Sorry for laying that all on you so soon. These past few months have definitely been something else,”

 

Before Mumbo had the time to respond, he heard Grian stir next to him. Grian stretched and yawned before sitting up and opening his eyes. “Mornin’ sleepyhead,” False greeted. 

 

Grian glanced over. His eyes weren’t his regular blue and red color. The whites of his eyes were now dark grey and light blue. His left eye was an average clock, his right eye was a crescent moon. 

 

“Grian you’re-“ Mumbo went to tell him but Grian was already inspected his own outfit. “What happened?” He asked quietly, his voice shaking ever so slightly. “You two passed out after some sort of explosion at spawn… some Hermits left the world too,” False explained. Grian frowned slightly and glanced over at Mumbo, a strange look in his eyes. 

 

“I had a dream-“ he said. “No, not a dream- a memory. I was woken up from reliving a memory. My last few moments in my world.” His face showed grief. Mumbo glanced at the ground. He also had a dream, though, it was just a dream- surely it was. He struggled to remember it. The ticking interrupted his mind each time he tried to remember what he dreamt about. 

 

_ ‘People.. other people.. not hermits. Where?’  _ He thought. Grian and False went on to talk. Grian explained what had happened in his memory. Mumbo sat recalling his dream. 

 

He remembered being in some sort of cave-like room. The walls had different redstone related stuff all over the place. There were two people.. one appeared to be happy with him, the other seemed not so happy. 

 

_ “ _ Him. I remember him. He taught me... who was he? -And what clock? My clock?” Mumbo questioned quietly, the others didn’t seem to hear him. The ticking was making it even more difficult to think now. It was constantly increasing and decreasing in volume. He heard two different types of ticking. Though, he didn’t know what the other one was. 

 

Mumbo tried covering his ears, the ticking didn’t stop. It didn’t even get muffled a bit at all. It really was inside his head. It was coming from  _ him. _

 

“Mumbo?” Grian’s voice cut off the ticking. It wasn’t loud anymore, it was back to being soft and quiet. Mumbo lowered his hands and looked over. “Are you alright?” Grian asked. 

 

“Yeah- yeah fine.” He answered. “I’m okay.” He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. “I better get back to my island..” he stood up. “Right, yeah, of course.” False nodded. Grian didn’t say anything, he glanced out off into the ocean and nodded once. Mumbo smiled slightly and waved goodbye before heading off to find a way off the ship and onto the main island. 

 

Grian stared at the water, watching the waves crash together. “The blue clock is gone..” he spoke, barely audible at all. “For good.” He felt it. He knew it. “What was that, Grian?” False looked over at him. He stammered, “oh- nothing, just talking to myself.” 

 

False looked at him as though she didn’t believe it and stood up. “Alrighty, well, I have to tell Joe that you two woke up now. Talk to you soon,” she smiled sadly. Grian nodded and waved goodbye. False jumped off of the boat and soared off using her elytras. Grian stayed on the boat, watching the waves. The beach always made him sad. It reminded him of plans that he was going to do with friends at his old home. Grian sighed. Now with the blue clock truly gone,  _ how was he going to get home now? _

 


	13. Chapter 13

Mumbo was feeling completely fine until he made it to his island. 

 

He stood alone in the center of his island. He heard the ticking _._ It was far worse than it was a few hours before. Earlier he was able to ignore it. Now, he couldn’t hear anything else apart from the ticking. He didn’t understand why the ticking was so bad or what had caused it to worsen. 

 

He ran a hand through his hair. He felt his heart beat in unison with the ticking, he felt like he was connected with time itself. So much ticking. Too much ticking. Mumbo shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He was unsuccessful. 

 

He stumbled backward toward his old treehouse and fell against the trunk, hitting his head on the wooden stairs. The ticking was affecting his mind. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t process his own actions. 

 

He seized hold of his clock. “Shut up!” He yelled at the object. He didn’t care how crazy he looked. His head hurt. He tugged on the clock, the string snapped. He threw the clock away, it landed in the sand. Mumbo covered his ears. No matter what, he still heard ticking. 

 

His eyes were shaking, his vision was spinning. The clocks that were his eyes spun so fast it was impossible to read the time they told. His clock was shaking on the ground near him. It whirred and ticked. The ground almost seemed to be shaking along with it. Moments later, the clock reappeared around Mumbo’s neck. It was _burning_. The heat was unbearable. Mumbo felt as if the clock was burning through his clothes, though it wasn’t. 

 

He tried to get it off, though he saw a shimmer in the corner of his eye. It immediately distracted him. The burning no longer bothered him. The shimmer was far more important. It was a shimmer he recalled seeing a few weeks ago. He attempted to stand up, though his legs wouldn’t let him. He pulled himself toward the shine, crawling on the ground. His hands shook and he felt a sickening adrenaline feeling in his stomach. 

 

His clock continued to shudder. It reminded him of the first time he met Grian. Both their clocks were going mental. _The clocks didn’t like other clocks._

 

Right at that moment, a small area around the shimmer exploded. Mumbo put his hands up to cover his face from the implode. Another clock sat in the middle of the new crater. It vibrated along with Mumbo’s clock. Mumbo slowly loaded his arms and squinted at the clock. He stumbled slightly and stood up. His eyes were sore, his hands shook, his head ached. Mumbo backed away from the other clock and toward his redstone. He didn’t care about the redstone circuits he spent so long on anymore, he needed to get a torch, even if it meant breaking his redstone. 

 

He felt like his head was going to explode. The ticking was unbearable. Mumbo felt his eyes shut. He heard the ticking become more muffled. He felt himself slowly losing consciousness. 

 

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick._

_.._

 

Suddenly, the ticking stopped. It stopped like it had the first night he spent. Though, Mumbo wasn’t awake long enough to appreciate the silence. He passed out only three blocks away from a redstone torch. 

 

_

 

_“Wow, good job, Kid. I haven’t seen a design like this before.”_

 

_Mumbo grinned at the words. He had been working his hardest on making something new and cool to show the others. He had been apart of the group for a few years and knew nearly all there is about redstone. Though, he had yet been able to impress anyone. “Thanks! I learn from the best,”_

 

_The other smiled. “Now, how efficient is it?” He asked, walking up and down the sides of the automatic farm. Mumbo quickly took out a written book from his inventory. “I’ve written down all its information and how it compares to all the other farms,” he handed the book over. His hands were trembling as he was extremely nervous. These people were who he looked up to. He couldn’t disappoint them._

 

_The other read through the book and nodded, handing it back. “Not bad. Not the best, but definitely not bad at all.” He said. That was the best thing he had ever said to Mumbo. “Thank you. I’ll work harder to make it more efficient.” Mumbo quickly said. The other nodded and turned to walk out of the giant pit, leaving Mumbo smiling ear to ear._

 

_—_

 

Mumbo slowly opened his eyes. He remembered this dream clearly. It felt familiar as if he had the dream before. _More like he experienced it before._ Although, he couldn’t remember experiencing it in real life. It was like some sort of jamais vu. 

 

Mumbo rubbed his eyes and sat up. The ticking was back to normal. It wasn’t loud, though it wasn’t gone entirely. Mumbo glanced back behind him. The second clock was no longer in the hole.

 

It appeared to have vanished.

 

__

 

Grian groggily walked through the shopping district alone. He felt exhausted. He kept having flashbacks to his very last moments in his world. He felt sad each time it would happen. He would completely freeze up until the flashback would end. False was concerned when it happened, though Grian brushed it off as if it was nothing. 

 

Though, it didn’t feel like anything. He didn’t understand why it happened. It seemed completely random as well, nothing seemed to trigger his memories. He had spent so long trying to forget them, he suspected that this was his mind's way of punishing him. Punishing him for being _selfish_. 

 

Grian clenched his fists and sighed. The thought, the _hope_ of possibly having a way back home consumed him. It made him not think of other people. Not thinking of his friends. Because of him, other hermits disappeared. Tango was gone because of him. Stress and Wels.. it was also his fault. He touched the blue clock and it took his friends. Grian wouldn’t be surprised if it was somehow his fault that Python, Jessassin, and Biffa were gone because of him. 

 

He glanced down at his clock. “I _hate_ you.” He muttered under his breath. The clock ticked, the sun moved slightly. He frowned. He opened his inventory and lazily took out a few rockets. He turned around and launched himself into the air and headed back to his base. 

 

As he was flying, another memory resurfaced. Grian froze, unable to fire more rockets to keep himself in air. He fell from the sky, whispering something incoherent before hitting the water below. 

 

-

 

_Grian was sitting in his room on his bed next to his friend. “Oh, I cannot wait for the beach! I’ve been needing to cool off recently. Plus it’ll be cool to explore more of the world,” His friend, exclaimed while going through Grian’s stuff. Grian laughed. “Stop you’re going to knock over my-“ a flower vase fell off his shelf. The glass shattered and flowers spilled onto the fluffy carpet. “Whoops,” His friend laughed._

 

_“Wow, thanks,” Grian grabbed a tiny sponge from a different shelf and tossed it on the ground. The sponge began to absorb the water like magic._

 

_“You ready to go? We have to explore..” his friend grabbed a map from his chest backpack. “We have to head south and apparently we’ll find an ocean. At least that was what the villager told me when he sold this map. This was fifteen emeralds by the way... expensive.” He handed the map to Grian._

 

_Grian shrugged and took the map. “I could’ve sworn I explored out that way... maybe not that far- but yeah, I’m ready,” he slid off his bed and quickly grabbed his custom elytra from a hanger on the wall and put it on. His friend took his own elytra out of his backpack. A dark blue and red elytra._

 

_“Cool, let's go!”_

 

_—_

 

Grian woke up floating in water not very far away from his base. A drowned was slowly swimming up toward him. “Gah!” Grian exclaimed, shocked. The drowned groaned and a second one appeared, one with a trident. He quickly took out some more rockets and tried to get out of the water. A trident flew past his head as he flew up. 

 

He landed in his aviary at the top of his base. He sat down on the grass and brought his knees up to his chest. Ari fluttered over and landed on Grian’s shoulder. Grian frowned, replaying the flashback in his mind. He regretted going on that exploration with his friends. He regretted finding his clock the next day. He regretted wearing the clock in the first place. 

 

He laid his head on his knees and sighed. Ari nuzzled his head against Grian’s soaked hair, ruffling up his head feathers. He knew something was wrong. Ari chirped, trying to get Grian’s attention. 

 

“I hear you, Ari,” Grian muttered softly. Ari chirped again “I’m okay, just thinking. Don’t worry,” He smiled slightly at the blue parrot. Ari ducked his head up and down in a sort of dance. Grian laughed slightly and stood up. “Oh wanna dance? I’ll go get a music disk,” He told the parrot. Ari chirped happily and fluttered his wings. With that, Grian dropped down the center of his base and went to search for a music disc. 


	14. Chapter 14

Mumbo was sick of the ticking. More than he was before. 

 

He had made some progress on his island over the past four days. He spent two days mining and the other two were spent exploring past the shopping district. He found what appeared to be a dried up plains biome with strange grey-ish trees. The trees were bent and twisted in ways like no other tree Mumbo had seen before. He discovered that the trees were Acacia trees and he brought back a lot of wood. He also finally brought back a bed, something he really needed. 

 

Although each time Mumbo would take a break to sleep or rest, he would have one of those weird dreams. The ticking would always be bad after each dream as well. He was tired of it and he was tired of the clocks. 

 

However, the ticking was quiet at the moment and he was able to work freely. He spent his time wisely and redecorated his base using the acacia wood and some glass he was able to make. He also replanted more trees on his island and no longer was his tree house the last tree on the island. His island was becoming a lot nicer. 

 

Although, Mumbo got no warning when Grian decided he wanted to show up randomly. The moment Mumbo made it down his long ladder, Grian was there to greet him. It still slightly shocked Mumbo when he saw Grian’s new look. Grian’s dark grey eyes, his clock and crescent moon. Though, Mumbo knew he looked just as odd with his own eyes and outfit. 

 

“Hey Mumbo! Iskall and I are going to participate in a golf tournament against concorp. You want to come to play with us?” 

 

Mumbo looked over at Grian. “Uh.. golf? Concorp? I’m not sure what those are,” he said while putting away his new materials into a chest. “Golf is this weird game with tridents and ender pearls. I’ll show you if you do want to come. ConCorp however,” he grimaced jokingly at the name. “Concorp is a company owned by Cub and Scar. Some time I plan on overthrowing Concorp- or at least attempt. I think it would be fun.” He laughed. 

 

“Overthrowing an entire company? How are you going to manage that?” Mumbo asked and leaned against one of the stone walls of his base. Grian thought for a moment before shrugging. “I had an idea- but I think it will take a lot of redstone stuff and I don’t know redstone- like at all- and I don’t really think just building stuff can overthrow a corporation.”

 

Mumbo nodded slightly. “Well, I-“ he paused. He was going to say that he knew a bit of redstone, although he felt as if he knew a lot more about redstone than he originally thought, and that would be weird if he suddenly knew a lot of redstone out of nowhere. Especially considering he only learned it about a month ago. Although, he felt as if he had built massive redstone builds years ago. Though he only had memories of his old world with no redstone.. and those dreams that had redstone. Those dreams that he was fairly certain were suppressed memories by now. 

 

Those dreams made no sense though. He had never been to a different world apart from hermitcraft, at least that was what he believed. 

 

“Well, I suppose I can play some golf with you guys. What are tridents and ender pearls though?” Mumbo continued. “Oh! Right, you probably don’t know. Well, tridents are these sword-things with spikes sort of things that can be thrown and- yeah no I’m bad at explaining. Basically, Drowneds have them.” 

 

“Those weird water zombies? I think I’ve seen some holding those before.” Mumbo nodded, although he wasn’t sure. Each time he saw a Drowned he would rather run or swim away before it got too close. 

 

Grian nodded. “And ender pearls are sometimes dropped from endermen. I’m not sure if you’ve seen them either. Basically, when you throw them you teleport.” Grian explained and Mumbo’s eyes widened. “You can teleport anywhere now? Why hasn’t anyone told me? That would’ve been so easy to get all this wood if I could just teleport to the forest!” He slightly regretted spending two days crossing the land. 

 

“Oh no, you can’t teleport wherever you want. That doesn’t become a thing for a few centuries. You teleport wherever the ender pearl lands, and 

you can only throw them so far.” 

 

“Oh, well I guess that’s less useful then.” Mumbo sighed. He would still have to journey hundreds of blocks by foot to get stuff, and there was no way he was touching an elytra any time soon. 

 

Grian nodded. “Yeah, but it’s still fun to use them while playing golf! I played with Iskall a few months ago and it was pretty chaotic. You need to join us because Concorp made the golf course and Scar has his cat along with him- and I’m not sure if cats are allowed to break rules or not.” 

 

“What if I join ConCorp?”

 

Grian blinked a few times as if he was offended. “Then that would be four against two! You can’t do that!” He exclaimed and turned around, ready to leave. Mumbo laughed. “I’m only joking! Of course, I’ll join your team. I might not be good at playing though,” 

 

“Nah it’s fine. Also, I have a spare golf outfit if you’d like to wear it to the tournament?” He asked heading over to a hole in Mumbo’s floor. “Uh, yeah sure. When’s the tournament?” 

 

“Tomorrow around noon. You can meet me near my cart in the shopping district tomorrow morning. Iskall will be there, not sure about Cub and Scar though.” Grian explained briefly before dropping down the hole into the strip mines below. 

 

Mumbo peeked over the edge. “Okay sounds good,” he said before Grian waved goodbye and left through the tumblers. 

 

The sun was already setting. Mumbo knew that without checking outside or looking at his clock. He sat down on his bed to sleep. He was trying to get used to sleeping. Though it was difficult while he had the dreams. 

 

_

  


_“Okay, so, don’t get mad,” Mumbo walked alongside the others. “I know you guys stopped messing with the clocks once I arrived here, but hear me out,” he continued. The others exchanged glances before slowing down to a stop. “Mumbo, don’t tell me-“ one began._

 

_“For the past few months, I’ve been working on an idea on how to get the clocks to work differently. Instead of bringing a person from the past or future here, how about bringing one of us into any time we want! I have a blueprint and everything- we just have to build it!” He smiled excitedly. The others did not look so excited. “Mumbo, the first rule is to not mess with the clocks. I thought you knew this.” One said, he looked down at Mumbo disapprovingly._

 

_“Right- yeah- I know, but I figured out a way to travel through time freely and-“ Mumbo tried explaining though the others weren’t having it. “We told you specifically not to mess with the clocks. They aren’t safe.”_

 

_“But you guys used to work with the clocks? Why suddenly stop when you got them to work? Why can’t we further investigate how to use the clocks for our own benefit-“ he paused. “I told you guys not to get mad! Just think of the possibilities- we can go hundreds of years into the future! Or- the past- but I don’t know why you would want to go there-“ he rambled on._

 

_“Kid, we are not building whatever redstone thing you want us to build. We aren’t messing with the clocks. Period.”_

 

_Mumbo’s face fell. He sighed. “We’re about being efficient, we’re about finding the glitches and features of our world and using them to our benefit.” He muttered._

 

_“Mumbo, we just don’t want anyone getting hurt. Not anymore. Once we found out a way to stop glitches interfering with the clocks and taking us to different time periods unwillingly, we stopped. They’re dangerous and there’s no reason why we should mess with them anymore. You were the only exception.” Another told him. “And there’s no way any one of us would even let you go near the blue clock or any of the others to build anything anyway. The blue clock is dangerous and you’re just a child. You don’t know what you’re doing.”_

 

_Mumbo sighed. He wasn't ‘just a child’. He was sixteen. That didn’t seem like a child’s age to him. He could build redstone without them. He had built many super smelters, giant farms, flying machines, and large piston doors. He didn’t need their approval to do anything._

 

_Mumbo turned away from the group. “Okay..” he muttered. “I get it.”_

 

___

 

Mumbo woke up suddenly. Each dream was clearer than the last. This one seemed to be particularly about being a teenage rebel. He squinted slightly, letting his eyes adjust to the light of the torches before sitting up. He was specifically told _not_ to mess with the clocks. Mumbo remembered now. He remembered who those people were, their names, what they did. Pieces of his recent dreams were making a lot more sense and he could remember things that he didn’t dream. 

 

Although, he could only remember up until the dream he just had. He wasn’t able to remember anything else. Mumbo covered his face and sighed. What couldn’t he remember? What did he forget? 

 

He kicked off the blanket of his bed and stood up, running a hand through his hair in the process. He quickly dumped anything he didn’t need into a few unorganized chests- not that any was organized in the first place- before heading to the surface.

 

Hopefully, golf would be a lot more fun than what has been happening recently. 


	15. Chapter 15

Mumbo finally understood his dreams, his lost memories. Though, he didn’t understand why he lost his memories in the first place. 

 

Experiencing his dreams was like reading a book. He read the first few chapters and then stopped reading it for a few months. Over those months he began doing other things, reading different books, having other dreams. Events that happened in the book slipped from his mind. When he came back to read the book, he had forgotten all that happened before, so he read back slightly and then remembered it all. 

 

Though, he still didn’t know what was going to happen in the next chapters because he hadn’t read those yet. 

 

It made no difference though. He arrived at the shopping district island and he didn’t have much time to stay and contemplate his dreams. He stepped out of his boat and dragged it up the beach, far enough away from the tide. 

 

The shopping district was a lot more active this day. He saw hermits walking around, talking, laughing, and shopping. Mumbo walked along the beach and toward where Grian’s cart was. 

 

“What  _ are _ you wearing?” Mumbo heard a voice laugh loudly. It sounded like Iskall. He turned the corner and saw Grian and Iskall in a fit of laughter. Grian was wearing a rather odd yellow and blue outfit and holding what appeared to be another copy of the same outfit. ‘ _ Oh no _ ,’ Mumbo thought.  _ ‘Do I have to wear that too?’  _

 

“I’m wearing what I wore last time- it changed color! You’re  _ still _ wearing your shorts. Unbelievable. Not golf at all,” Grian said. Iskall shook his head. “How do you know what you’re supposed to wear to golf? You’ve only golfed once! - Oh hi, Mumbo!” 

 

Mumbo chuckled and walked toward the duo. “Okay, what’s going on here?” He asked. “Iskall is making fun of my outfit. Though, it’s okay, because you get to wear it too and I won’t be alone,” Grian smiled devilishly and dropped the clothes into Mumbo’s arms. “Oh brilliant, thanks Grian,” Mumbo said sarcastically and rolled his eyes. 

 

“You can change into that shorts shop. It’s where I got my  _ amazing  _ shorts.” Iskall smiled cunningly and pointed to a shop right next to Grian’s. 

 

Mumbo nodded briefly and walked into the empty shop. Inside he got a better look at his outfit. He got a little green hat, a white shirt, red vest, and a green kilt. He quickly changed and watched how his outfit turned colors. “What in the world-?” He muttered. The once green and red clothes turned to blue and yellow. He assumed this was exactly what happened to his clothes before. Possibly the clocks caused whatever he wore to change. 

 

There was no doubt the clocks had affected him. Both him and Grian changed under the influence of the blue clock. Suddenly the blue clock disappeared that day. Though, Mumbo wasn’t exactly sure if the blue clock actually disappeared. Possibly it divided and took over the two of them. 

 

Mumbo shook his head and walked out of the shop toward his giggling friends. “Aha! My hypothesis was correct!” Grian pointed to Mumbo. “Your clothes changed as well,” he gestured to his own outfit. “Mine used to be blue and red.”

 

“That’s so weird,” Iskall chuckled. “Yeah we are weird, being all clock-consumed-like,” Grian joked. “Clock consumed? What does that mean?” Mumbo asked. Grian shrugged. “Y’know, the blue clock, it consumed us.” He explained. Mumbo knitted his eyebrows in confusion. “But-? Wouldn’t that make it that we consumed the clocks? Wait-” He was cut off by Iskall. “You guys eat clocks?!?” Iskall laughed. “No!” Grian and Mumbo shouted in unison.

 

“Okay, okay, let's just get to the golf course. At least we know the way through the nether this time,” Iskall headed toward the nearest portal. “Nether?” Mumbo muttered quietly. “Wait you haven’t even been to the nether yet?” 

 

Mumbo shook his head. He stared at the portal. There was no way this was ‘safe’. “Well, there’s a first time for everything!” Iskall jumped into the purple portal. Mumbo watched as Iskall disappeared a few moments later. “Wh- what happened? Where did he go?” Mumbo circled around the portal. It wasn’t like a door. Iskall didn’t walk through it. He completely vanished. 

 

“This is the nether portal. You go through it to the nether dimension.” Grian explained and stepped inside the purplish divider. “Woaghh,” he gurgled, his voice shaking. “Are you okay?” Mumbo asked. “Just follow me!” Grian said, his voice still having some sort of strange echo and shaky effect. He vanished seconds later. 

 

Mumbo stared at the portal. He didn’t like it. He didn’t trust it. He had no knowledge if his friends were actually okay. Though, they seemed to have done it many times before. He took a deep breath and slowly extended his hand out to touch the portal. His hand went straight through and he immediately felt the energy of the portal. He felt a sort of ticklish feeling slowly reach up his forearm. It didn’t feel threatening at all. 

 

He stepped into the portal. He felt his entire body shake, similar to what he felt when he had touched the blue clock. His vision had a purple tint and he couldn’t focus on anything. The portal affected his vision so much that he was beginning to feel nauseous. There was no way he could do this. Though, right before he was able to jump out, he was no longer in the overworld. 

 

“You did it!” He heard Grian shout. “Congratulations!” Iskall clapped. Mumbo stumbled out of the portal onto the white ground. He slowly looked around. Everything was built out of white blocks. Though, he could see that there was a faint red hue to everything unlike in the overworld. He also felt a lot heavier. This place seemed to have a much more intense gravitational pull. “This is the nether?” Mumbo asked and stood up. 

 

The two nodded. “Well, yeah. Not in its organic form though. We changed the nether a whole lot. It’s a firey, dangerous, evil mob infested dimension.” Iskall explained. Mumbo’s face cringed slightly. “I don’t want to be here,” he backed up toward the portal. “It’s okay! The nether hub is safe  _ -for the most part-  _ plus the country club portal isn’t that far away,” Grian told him and gestured to follow. 

 

Mumbo followed hesitantly. 

 

Another portal trip later, the trio was in an entirely different place of the world. Possibly nether travel wasn’t that bad. He knew it would take a lot to get used to, as would everything else in this world. 

 

The golf course was very fancy. Cub and Scar were talking a little ways away. Cub turned around and waved at the three. “Ah, finally they’re here.” He said. 

 

“Three players? Okay Grian, I see your tricks.” Scar walked over. He spun his trident in his hands. “Although, unfortunately for you, I brought Jellie along with me and Cub.” Scar smiled smugly and a small grey four-legged animal walked over from behind him. “Cats can’t play golf, can they?” Iskall asked. Scar shrugged. “Jellie sure can,”

 

Mumbo had never seen such an odd looking animal. It had fur and pointy ears, a long tail and paws. It was weird, though Mumbo could see that it was kind of cute. 

 

“That’s- a cat-?” Mumbo watched Jellie from a distance. Jellie rubbed her head against Scar’s leg and purred. “Is it attacking you-?” Mumbo asked. Scar laughed. 

 

“Oh no, she just wants to be pet.” He crouched down and scratched Jellie behind her ears.

 

Mumbo slowly nodded. “Ah, Okay. Well- I still don’t know how to play golf and I’m going up against a cat that apparently can. This isn’t fair,” he shook his head. “Jellie doesn’t have thumbs, so it’s fair.” Scar pointed. “Plus we can all teach you,” Cub chimed in and opened a chest. He took out a few tridents, banners, ice, and ender pearls. He tossed each set to everyone. 

 

“Okay, let's start playing!” Scar exclaimed. 

 

“Wai-“ Mumbo began. “I  _ still _ don’t know how to play guys,” he told them. “You want to read forty or more pages of useless instructions?” Grian asked. Mumbo shrugged. “I guess not,”

 

“Scar and I can explain. We’re running a bit late though, we only have so many hours before it’s night,” Cub said. 

  
  


-

 

“I DO NOT LIKE THIS!” Mumbo exclaimed as his trident shot him into the air. “Use the ender pearls!” Grian told him. Mumbo struggled to throw the weird greenish blue orb. It flew out of his render distance. “I’m going to DIE!” Mumbo yelled, he was falling, falling quite fast. 

 

Seconds before he hit the ground he felt electricity travel through his veins. His arms were covered in purple sparks. He had no time to ask what was happening to his body before he teleported out of the air and landed safely where the ender pearl had landed. 

 

“Wh-“ he rubbed his head. He landed on the green, somewhere near Scar, though he was behind. “Aha! ConCorp is still ahead!” Scar exclaimed and high fived Cub. The cat, Jellie, immediately began to attack Mumbo’s shoelaces. Mumbo found out once they all began playing that Jellie did not know how to play golf and was only here to cause mayhem. “Thanks, Jellie..” he muttered and redid his shoelaces. 

 

A moment or two later, an ender pearl landed right next to Scar and then Iskall appeared. “Concorp, no longer in the lead,” Cub stated, tutting. Iskall fist-bumped the air. “Aha! Take that, the people who own this place and can probably legally kick me out!” He laughed. 

 

“Where’s Grian?” Mumbo asked. “Oh you know,” Grian’s voice appeared to come out of nowhere.  Mumbo looked up to see Grian stuck in a tree branch. “You guys are really observant, huh? I fired my ender pearl right after Mumbo did.” He said and tossed an ender pearl into the hole of the green. 

 

“Hey! We have an order we play in! Cub was supposed to go next,” Scar called Grian out. Grian shrugged and jumped out of the tree. “Better luck next time but we won the first hole!” He grinned. “Are we scoring by which team makes it to the hole first or are we actually playing properly?” Iskall asked. The group shrugged. 

 

“Okay, onto the next hole, I guess,” Cub shook his head, chuckling. 

  
  


-

 

The group of hermits went onto playing a lot more holes. ConCorp, of course, was in the lead with points. Jellie somehow managed to get in the way of the hole each time any non-ConCorp member would try to golf. Grian was convinced she was sabotaging the game but Scar disagreed. Though, they all mostly stopped paying attention to the points and were just having fun so it didn’t matter all that much. Grian kept getting stuck in trees, Iskall actually did somewhat good, and Mumbo struggled to not freak out each time he used the ender pearls. He wished he could say that he was used to it but he really wasn’t. Although, he was having a lot of fun playing golf.

 

They were now on the last hole. This was supposed to be the most difficult hole, according to Cub, though Mumbo wasn’t sure how true that was. He could see the green from where he stood. Scar hopped into the small pool of water and took out one of his tridents. “I’ll go first this time,” He smiled. Grian and Mumbo exchanged glances before shrugging. “Fine, we’ll be left in the dust anyway.”

 

Scar chuckled and launched himself into the air using the trident and then threw an ender pearl. He landed in hay bales below and waited there for a second before teleporting away. Jellie also teleported away a few moments later. “Okay, who goes now?” Iskall asked. The other three shrugged. “Fine, I will,” Mumbo spun his trident and stepped into the pool.

 

He raised his trident up and aimed it toward where the green was. He saw Scar and Jellie down there already, though, they seemed distracted. Mumbo sighed and used his trident to launch himself into the air, then he threw another ender pearl. He clenched his eyes shut before he hit the ground. Thankfully, he was teleported away. 

 

Immediately when he landed, he heard ticking again. Mumbo reacted quickly and covered his ears. Where was it coming from this time? He glanced around, and no longer caring about his position in the golf tournament, he stood up and went looking for the source. Scar and his cat was nowhere to be found. 

Mumbo stumbled slightly as he wandered into a nearby forest. He glanced around. His clock was freaking out. There  _ must _ be another clock somewhere. 

 

“Uhhh, Jellie, this is weird but it looks so cool on me! Matched my belt.” He heard Scar’s voice over the ticking. “Scar?” Mumbo called out. He pushed his way through some birch trees and found Scar and Jellie standing in a crater. Scar turned around when he noticed Mumbo. 

 

He had a clock around his neck. 

 

“Scar!” Mumbo called. “Yeah?” Scar looked back at him concerned. “Are you okay?” He asked. “Take that clock off!” Mumbo jumped down into the crater. “Why? I just put it on. Jellie likes it!” He smiled. Mumbo furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “-What?” The ticking was getting louder, far more intense. Soon, Grian and the others arrived. 

 

“No!” Grian yelled once he saw the clock around Scar’s neck. “Take it off! Quick!” 

 

Scar looked between the two hermits. “I don’t understand-?” He paused. “Why?” He asked again. Mumbo realized that Scar was not going to take it off. He reached for the necklace. Scar tried to swat his hands away but Mumbo grabbed onto his necklace. His hands began to shake. He felt the clock’s power. He felt powerful. He felt as if he could do anything. He didn’t notice, however, that his clock was going back in time. He was going back in time. 

 

Then he was back at the top of the crater.  _ Lag _ . Specifically, rubberbanding.  _ ‘Oh no, why now-’  _ Mumbo jumped back into the hole. He tried getting closer to Scar, he tried telling Scar to take off the clock, he tried warning him of the dangers and what had happened to the other hermits with clocks. Though, he was too late. Right as he touched Scar’s necklace, another lag spike hit. Then, to add insult to injury, the all too familiar yellow text appeared on everyone’s communicator. 

 

**Goodtimewithscar has left the world**

 

Mumbo watched as Scar disappeared in front of him. He was confused- shocked- scared even. What caused the lag- twice? Why was this one different? If glitches in the world normally caused hermits to leave, why did it take two lag spikes in order for Scar to disappear? Mumbo stepped back, horrified. 

 

_ Was this his fault?  _

_ Did he cause this? _

 

Grian, Iskall, and Cub arrived back soon after. Cub stared into the crater. “No..” He said and glanced at his T-chat. “He.. no,” He shook his head slowly. He couldn’t believe it. Iskall stared at his T-chat. Grian wouldn’t look at the hole. He stepped back away from the crater.

 

Jellie meowed, alarmed. A broke, sad, fearful meow. She looked heartbroken. She pawed at the dirt where Scar had been standing previously. She glanced back a Mumbo and then back at the empty space. She mewed and curled up in the dirt. She laid her head on her paws and mewed sadly. She waited...

 

_ Though, it seemed as if she knew that he wasn’t coming back. _


	16. Chapter 16

The past few days were... difficult to say the least. Any news about another hermit’s disappearance spread like wildfire. Scar’s was no different, and it was quite easily done with T-chats. 

 

There was another ceremony or ‘funeral’ that Mumbo was able to attend. Since Scar’s disappearance, Hermits were now on even higher alert, fearing that they might leave the world as well. 

 

Mumbo laid down on his bed in his base. He had no idea how to stop the clocks. He feared that everyone was going to be taken and that he was going to be the only one left,  _ again _ . 

 

He shook his head. “No.. that’s not going to happen,” he muttered to himself. “No one else is going to leave..” he continued, though, he knew the chances of another hermit leaving the world were incredibly high. Mumbo sighed and closed his eyes. 

 

_ “So̸̟͈̒́m̷̗̲̥̘̬̂eone… an̸̤̼̩̆y̴̦̱̓̊̀̈́one̴͓̥͉̲̊͗.. P̶͍̯̈́̂̌l̴͎͠ě̵̖̙͙̾̏ȁ̶̪̓̕s̷͇͐͒e̶̞̩.̶̨͕͂ͅ.̴͍͛̊.̵̪̠̐͑͜ ̵̪̱̅̽ȟ̸̗̳e̵̫̒l̶̯͂̌̉p̷̡̤̺̃ ̸̖͎̓͒m̵̤̙̙̂̇̈́e̷͕͒͛-“ _

 

Mumbo sat up. He had no idea where the voice came from. “Hello?” He called out. He got no answer. Mumbo frowned and laid back down. He tried to go to sleep. 

  
  


-

 

_ “Mumbo. Do you have the clock? Did you take it?” _

 

_ Mumbo swiftly turned around on his heels. He was caught. “I-“ he began. The other stormed into the small- once hidden- room, toward the giant device Mumbo had spent the past few months working on.  _

 

_ The redstone device was a fairly tall tower of glass. Sticky pistons retracted and extended blocks of gold and redstone inside the glass. Outside, more pistons worked. A long trail of redstone circuits covered the sides and the top and bottom had more redstone that the older Redstoner couldn’t even understand it’s purpose.  _

 

_ “Don’t get close- it isn’t ready yet! It’s unstable!” Mumbo warned. The other stopped dead in his tracks and faced Mumbo. “Did you take the clock?!” He asked again. Mumbo didn’t say anything. He glanced toward the glass chamber and then down at his shoes.  _

 

_ The older Redstoner looked back toward the glass. In the center was the Blue Clock. It hung by a string and it spun around extraordinarily fast. Each time a block of redstone got close, the clock would spin faster and attract toward the blocks. Though when the blocks were retracted back by the sticky pistons the clock would slow down again. This repeated over and over. _

 

_ “What is that?!” The other asked. Mumbo glanced up. “It’s.. to control it. To control the clock.” He stated. “It’s my version of what you guys built years ago. This can allow us to do so much more. We can go to whatever time we want,” he gestured to a line of redstone dust that led to a few Daylight sensors, levers, and buttons. “We can also go into the past- we can get people from the past and future. We can also get back the people who we lost to the clocks- we- we can control the time!” He exclaimed.  _

 

_ The other narrowed his eyes. “You have to shut this down. This is beyond dangerous!” He walked toward the glass. “Don’t get near it!” Mumbo shouted. “I’m taking the blue clock back. You can’t have it anymore. I don’t even know how you got it in the first place.” _

 

_ Mumbo stepped over the barrier of red concrete ‘do not cross’ blocks he placed on the floor. Immediately his clock reacted to the presence of the blue clock- more than it had before. No amount of redstone could stun his clock at this point. “Stop!” He ran over. The other took out a pickaxe and broke the glass. The glass shattered and a wave of energy hit like a shockwave. Pistons moved redstone close to the clock and the walls, floor, and ceiling began to shake due to the amount of energy coming from the stimulated clock. The older Redstoner was hit by the wave of energy, though it didn’t affect him as much as it did to Mumbo.  _

 

_ Mumbo struggled to stand up. He felt the blue clock’s magnetic field. It pulled him in. The other realized his mistake when he saw Mumbo being dragged toward the clock without his control. Redstone dust was lifted into the air and it circled the room. The Daylight sensors were flickering on and off.  _

 

_ Mumbo was dragged right into the glass case. The pistons moved again, shutting the entire thing off and he stood still underneath the blue clock. The dust fell and the daylight sensors returned to normal. Mumbo could feel his entire body shaking. His clock was floated above his head now, the string around his neck was digging into his neck. His clock was still attracted to the blue clock and was trying to reach it like a magnet. _

 

_ “Kid, get out of there!” The other yelled. Mumbo was stuck in the eye of the magnetic storm. He couldn’t move a muscle, he wasn’t able to talk, and he knew he didn’t have much time left. He knew the pistons would move the redstone blocks again and that would turn everything back on.  _

 

_ Mumbo struggled to breathe. He felt the string around his neck getting tighter as his clock got closer to the blue one. The other tried breaking redstone circuits before the pistons turned on, though he was breaking dust that made no difference to the machine... _

 

_ Then the pistons moved.  _

 

_ Another shock wave. Mumbo stumbled over. The string around his neck snapped. His clock collided with the blue clock and he immediately felt the energy surge through him. His fingers tingled, his entire body spazzed out and he began to shake more violently than he had been before. His entire vision was shaking. He distantly heard a voice yell for him over the ticking but before he knew it, he was gone.  _

 

_ Mumbo woke up at spawn. His original spawn. He had no memory of what had happened only a few seconds before. He still had his clock around his neck as if nothing had happened at all. No encounter with the future world with a group of advanced redstoners. They didn’t exist in Mumbo’s mind. He had little to no memory of redstone at all. It was only weird red ore that he would sometimes find while mining. Weird red ore that was useless.  _

 

_ He rubbed his head. It was a shame he fell off of his wooden house. Thankfully it wasn’t that far away and it was still day so he would be able to get back before his stuff despawned.  _

 

_ Mumbo dusted off his shirt- when did he get a black jacket? Possibly he always had it. He yawned and began heading back toward his house. A house he built six years ago. A house he remembered building only yesterday.  _

 

_ — _

 

_ “Please help! Anyone! It’s... it’s so dǎ̷̞̱͚̰̽̐̅͠r̴̙̳̊̐ͅk- and- I’m all al̴̦̈́͂ͅö̸̯͙̜́̔͗͘ņ̷̲̫̩̓̓̐̈ë̷̮́͝,” _

 

_ “I can see the ś̸̯̍̇ǔ̴̮ņ̷̭͕́͆̔́. I can see the mǫ̵͇͓̌͌̑o̷̯̊̔͌͑n… ḩ̸̧̪̹̣͒̍̍̾̒͝e̸̡̻̙̤̗̅l̵̡̘̪͕̹͜͠p̶̛̼̺̮̥͕̤ ̵̺̲̒͂̎m̶̺̙̊̿͗̅͜e̵̛̳̾̑̎ ̶̫͎̫̬̾͘p̸̜̥͋͂͆̑̒̌l̸̫͔̼͇͖̓͊̐̈͠e̵̙̹̳̙͐ȃ̸̛̪̽͠š̶̞̮̫͠ê̶͈̠͌̀̚͠,” _


	17. Chapter 17

Mumbo opened his eyes. 

He remembered that day clearly. He fully understood now. The Blue Clock took his memory. Before all he remembered was falling from his house and respawning back at spawn with a jacket, being a lot taller- being older- and the disappointment he faced once he found that his stuff despawned once he arrived at his house. Though, now he realized that when he fell off his house for the first time, he was brought into the future. He spent six years in the future and forgot all about it. 

Mumbo ran a hand through his hair. His thoughts were racing. He remembered what machine he was trying to build. He remembered exactly how he built it as well. He could build it again. He could properly finish it without any interruptions. 

He could get the other hermits back. 

Mumbo slid off his bed and stood up. He had no time to waste. 

——

Grian woke up in a cold sweat. He had another flashback-like dream. 

His cheeks felt warm and wet. His eyes felt dry. His dream wasn’t even all that bad. 

He swung his legs over the side of his bed and slid off, standing up. He stretched and glanced up through the center of his base. He felt himself shiver slightly. He could see the overcast from where he stood. The morning was very melancholic. 

Grian wanted to flop back down onto his bed. He didn’t feel like doing anything at all. Though he, in reality, he knew that he had projects to work on.

Though, before he was able to set off and begin working, a message flashed across his vision. 

MumboJumbo: Hello everyone. I would like to meet up with anyone who can make it to the shopping district. It’s about the disappearing hermits. 

Grian watched as hermits began to reply that they’ll be there. He joined them, sending a simple ‘Ok’ and then went to get a couple more rockets before heading out. He took a lot longer than usual. He didn’t understand why he felt so tired, weak, and sad. 

-

Mumbo stood on top of a log, he waited for the others to show up. All the time he waited, Mumbo fiddled with this necklace and pulled at the string. His dark navy blue hair fell in front of his eyes.

“What happened? What do you know about the disappearances?” Xisuma asked, walking up toward Mumbo. Mumbo glanced up. “I’ll tell you when the others arrive,” he told him. Xisuma nodded once and sat down on his log. 

Soon, other hermits began to show up. Grian avoided Mumbo’s gaze for whatever reason, though the others looked at him with interest and mild fear for what they might hear. Mumbo sighed. “As you all know, I am from the past, Grian is from the future.” He explained. The other hermits nodded.

“Although, ever since Grian and I blacked out due to the exposure to the Blue Clock, I’ve been having certain memories... More like flashbacks.” He went on. A few hermits exchanged concerned glances. “Nothing bad! It’s just come to my realization that my reality isn't as black and white as I thought it was in the first place. I thought I was just from the past and this was just the future. Though, I learned that I came to the future before, a long time ago. I stayed in the future for a couple of years and then was brought back to my world due to a freak accident. What I’m saying here is that the hermits that left may not be dead, but instead lost in time… and I think I know how to bring them back.”

Everyone stared at him, a few looked at him in disbelief. Most hermits just assumed the others died permanently and them leaving the world was a way to say that they were never coming back. Now, Mumbo was saying things that some didn’t even believe was possible. “How? Are you going to build a time machine or something?” Doc asked. 

“Er- no- not exactly- well- When I was in the future for the first time, I was in a world of redstone, I learned how redstone worked with some of the best redstoners I know- or knew- and in this world, we had the Blue Clock under control, though, we never used it. The redstoners only used it to bring me into their world and after that, they tried exiling the clock out of their world. They tried dropping it into the void, though it didn’t work, it came back to them, so instead, they surrounded it in obsidian walls and pretended it never existed.”

Mumbo paused, he glanced down at his hands. His yellow gloves he never used to have. His dark blue jacket. He remembered when he got the original jacket... He glanced back up, changing gazes with everyone once more. The other hermit’s stayed quiet, listening to his words. “We weren’t allowed to go near the blue clock and we weren’t allowed to mess with time. Those were two of the most important rules. Though, I was obsessed with the idea of time and the idea of the blue clock. I wanted to control the blue clock for myself. I wanted to control time and bend it at my will. I wanted to understand it and I wanted to go even further into the future. I wanted to prove myself to be a good redstoner to the others. I thought that if I found a new way to control the clock myself, that I would finally be seen as a good redstoner.”

“What did you do?” Joe asked. “I took the clock and I built a redstone machine that was designed specifically to control the clock and allow it to take not only me through time, but others as well. Unfortunately, what I built wasn't allowed and I got in trouble. Something.. happened.. that led to the machine breaking before I was able to finish it and I got brought back into the past unwillingly. Though, I think I might be able to recreate my machine... I think if I make it we can bring back the missing Hermits.” Mumbo stated. Grian hummed. “So.. you are going to build a time machine.” He reiterated. Mumbo chuckled slightly. “Well, I guess I am then.” He shrugged. “I just wanted to tell you all, I wanted you all to know what has been happening,”

“You said that it broke and brought you through time unwillingly. So.. it’s dangerous? I don’t want anyone else leaving this world.” Impulse chimed in. A few hermits nodded, some glanced at the floor. “Well, I say you should build it... Sure it’s dangerous, but sure is a lot of other things we do. There’s a possibility we can bring back the hermits that left. Wouldn't you want the others back? Wouldn’t you want Tango back?” Cub asked. “I just don’t want to take any chances.” Impulse stepped back slightly.

“We don’t have many chances to take anyway!” Zedaph pointed out. “What else are we going to do? Wait around until they just show up again? It’s been weeks, Impulse!” He continued. “I know- but what if something goes wrong and we end up losing someone else!” Impulse stated. “Look, you don’t have to agree with me building this machine or not, I just think it’s the best shot we have at bringing everyone back. It’s been hard, I know it has.” Mumbo sighed. Impulse didn’t reply and Zedaph nodded in agreement. 

“Let’s take a vote. I vote you build the machine. Whoever else agrees, raise their hand.” False said. Most of the hermits rose their hands without hesitation, others waited and watched to see the majority of the vote before voting themselves. Impulse sighed before eventually raising his hand. “I guess it’s been decided then,” Mumbo stated. “I’ll get to work immediately. I know we want them back as soon as possible. We don’t know what they’re dealing with.”

“Is there any way I could help?” Iskall asked. “Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.” He continued. “Can I help too? I’m not good at redstone but I would like to help in any way I can,” He said. Mumbo noticed Grian had a faltering smile, almost a fake or worried smile. Most -if not all- the hermits had the same expression. Mumbo nodded and smiled slightly. “Yeah, you two can help. I’m going to build it underground in case something does go wrong. I don’t want it exploding or anything.” He told the others.

“Good luck, man,” Ren said. “If you need anything, just let me know.” He said and the others agreed. “Same with me,” Zedaph, Cleo, and Doc said in unison. 

“One last thing,” Mumbo began. The others turned to look at him before heading off. 

“If you see a random clock in the world that you did not craft, do not touch it.”


	18. Chapter 18

P̴͙͒lḛ̶̎ase̶͉͘ hẻ̷͜l̶͍̒p̷͖͌ më̴͚́ ̶̓͜

_ It was so dark. There was no air. It was unbearably cold. No land. No world at all. Just darkness.  _

I̶̠͝ ̵͙̽c̶̯̆à̴̱n̷̩͆’̸̱̈t̵͑ͅ ̵̪̓b̵̛̘r̴̗̀e̴̺̍a̷̮̋t̶̤͂h̷̹͊e̷͓̓…

——

Mumbo rubbed his temples, his head hurt. He didn’t understand why he kept hearing that voice. He didn’t even know who the voice belonged to. 

He felt himself shiver slightly as he walked through the grass of a plains biome. He didn’t know why he was suddenly so cold. The plains were usually warm. He felt dizzy and tired. He felt himself sinking into the ground. 

Mumbo glanced down at his shoes. The grass was…  _ strange _ . “What the-“ he stepped back. The grass that was underneath his foot was gone. Void replaced it. The void grew, taking over the biome. Mumbo couldn’t move fast enough- he couldn’t escape the void. 

 

He fell. 

 

He was cold. As cold as ice. Mumbo couldn’t move. He was trapped. He was stuck in the void. He couldn’t do anything about it.  _ He was so cold.  _

 

_ “ _ -Okay we need a name.” 

 

Grian’s voice interrupted Mumbo’s thoughts. Suddenly, Mumbo was back on the surface. He was no longer in the void. It took him a few seconds to pull himself back together and reply as casually as he could. “-No, Grian, we don’t,” he quickly replied. Grian rolled his eyes and sped up to walk alongside Mumbo. “No no, I think we do! We’re a team now. You, Iskall, and I!”

Both Iskall and Mumbo turned to look at Grian. Mumbo sighed “Okay, well, if we’re a team- then you have to actually help us instead of just- petting chickens-” He chuckled. Grian hummed. “I warned you guys that I don’t know redstone,” he stated. “I’m a builder. I’ll do the building.” He continued, smiling.

“Aha! I got it! Since I build, and you two do the redstone- our team name could be- BuildStone! Get it? Build and Stone- like redstone-” He exclaimed. The two redstoners exchanged glances. “Err- Grian,” Iskall began. “Bad name? Okay, yeah- I’ll think of something else.”

The three hermits were out three hundred blocks away from the shopping district and were trying to find the perfect place to build Mumbo’s machine. Mumbo told them that he wanted to make it underground, so they were looking for a cave as a good start; not wanting to manually mine out a large area or use TNT and have the possibility to cause lag- which could cause more disappearances. 

“What about this one?” Iskall asked, pushing away a few tree branches and revealing a somewhat large underground hole. “Hm, it’s okay and all, but I think we can find a better place,” Mumbo replied. “What was your original machine built-in?” Grian asked. “I found a large cave entrance into a hidden ravine. I mined it out into quite a large area.” He replied and continued walking, the others followed behind. 

The three hermits spent the rest of the day wandering far from spawn. Eventually, Mumbo found a cave he deemed good enough to start and they began to clear out an area in the night. 

 

W̵̦̄͝h̵̬̼̃͂ỷ̵͕̚ ̵̰̗͋a̸̡͓͂m̶͙͝ ̶͔̟̍̍Ĩ̶̝͗ ̵͍̭͛h̷̊ͅḙ̷̈́̾r̵͖͛͌e̷͓͆͝?̸̫̊̉͜

_ \---H̸̥̎̚o̸̻͔̎̐w̶̨̮͐̋ ̷̨̦͛͝d̵̨͒̚i̷̳̾͗ͅḑ̷̺́̽ ̴̤̞̄̾I̴͈̍ ̵̜͋g̸͚̀͐e̴̡̘͝ṫ̷̬ ̸̝̈́ḧ̴̯́ê̵̻r̷̰̈́ê̸͖?̴̘̉ _

 

Mumbo stopped mining and froze. He looked around. Iskall was expanding the area out and Grian was decorating the walls. “Did anyone hear that?” He asked. Iskall turned to him. “Hear what?” He asked. Mumbo frowned slightly. “Never mind, just- thought I heard something,” he explained. Iskall shrugged and went back to mining. 

It didn’t take long until the three- two- of them mined out a large area. Mumbo immediately began to work on the machine. Iskall had brought his shulker box of redstone with him. 

“Architechs! That’s it! We can be the architechs! Arch- like architecture and tech like technology with redstone!” Grian randomly chimed in. Mumbo stopped what he was doing. “Honestly, that isn’t a bad name. You must've been very bored to come up with that,” he laughed. Grian nodded and laid down on the cold stone floor. “So bored!” He complained. Iskall chuckled. “I like Architech. Seems cool,” he stated. Grian smiled widely. “Yeah, I agree. It’s a lot better than whatever Buildstone was,” Mumbo nodded and continued to get back to work. 

Iskall and Mumbo were building a few things similar to noisemakers around a large glass tower Grian had previously built. Mumbo explained that most of the redstone used wouldn’t do much to the actual machine itself. 

“It’s only here to overwhelm the clock as much as possible-“ Mumbo fell silent and began to pace around the redstone clocks. The two others watched. Mumbo hummed. “The clock split and consumed both of us-“ he stated. Grian nodded slowly. “Yeah- I think that’s what happened. That’s why we’re blue and yellow,” he explained. “Right.. yes, of course. No worries then,” he shook his head and stopped pacing. “I think I will work on the machine alone tonight. I’ve made a mistake in the design,” 

Grian tried to step in but Mumbo shook his head. “- Thank you guys for helping me, but I think it’s for the best. I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” he explained.

“Mumbo, I said that I would help,” Iskall said. “No, it’s okay. You guys can come back in the morning if you’d like. We’re the Architechs after all. Right now I have to fix this design,” he scratched his head and glanced down at the circuits. 

“Oh okay... C’mon Iskall,” Grian gestured for Iskall to follow him. “I’ll see you in the morning then!” He waved bye. Mumbo waved back slightly and watched as his two friends left the cave. He sighed. He realized that the  blue clock was apart of him. That meant that this machine was  _ extremely  _ deadly now. 

—-

Mumbo spent the entire night working on the machine. It wasn’t the most complex machine but he spent hours redesigning it and trying to make it work with the current situation he was in. He knew that he would have to take the place of the blue clock, and it made him nervous. Because of that reason, Mumbo didn’t finish the machine. 

In the morning, he decided to leave the cave before Iskall and Grian would arrive. He sat outside the cave’s entrance for a few minutes before covering the hole with red concrete. 

 

_ “Mumbo?” _

 

Mumbo looked up, expecting to see Grian or Iskall, though- he saw Xisuma flying with his elytra. “Hello X!” He greeted, trying to shake off any nervousness he felt. Xisuma didn’t reply at first. He landed near Mumbo. 

“Why did you do it?” Xisuma stared coldly. Mumbo has never seen the man so... angry before. “-do- do what?” Mumbo asked, completely clueless. Xisuma narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t believe Mumbo was playing stupid. 

 

“Why did you ban him?”

 

“Ban? Ban who?” Mumbo’s shook his head, not understanding. He didn’t ban anyone. He  _ couldn’t  _ ban anyone. “I’m not sure if you know this but here, we have admins, and I just happen to be an admin,” Xisuma explained. He stepped closer to Mumbo. Mumbo stepped back. 

 

“I can check the logs. I know you did it. It’s not worth lying. I’m going to ask you again,  _ why did you ban him _ ?” 

 

Mumbo glanced to the side and back at Xisuma. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” He shouted. 

 

_ “WHY DID YOU BAN SCAR?” _

 

Mumbo froze. Scar? Banned? He shook his head. “I didn’t ban Scar- you saw it in the T-Chat yourself. He left the world. X, you- you know I wouldn’t do that- right?”

Xisuma didn’t say anything and pulled out his own T-Chat out of his inventory. He clicked a button Mumbo didn’t recognize and a bright green screen with text appeared. Xisuma showed Mumbo the screen. 

 

**_[GoodTimeWithScar_ ** _ has been banned by  _ **_MumboJumbo]_ **

_ [Reason: Unspecified] _

 

“Do you know what it’s like to be banned??” Xisuma shouted, not giving Mumbo any time to respond. “I swore that no one would ever get banned! Not since-“ he paused, rethinking his words. 

Mumbo stared at the screen in shock. “I didn’t ban him! I swear I didn’t- I-“ Xisuma cut him off. “How am I supposed to believe you?? Ever since  _ you  _ showed up, Hermits have been disappearing left and right!” He yelled. Mumbo opened his mouth to speak, to defend himself, but Xisuma kept talking. “What is your plan? Do you want everyone gone? Have you done this before to that other world you were in? Is your goal to take people away from their homes?” He pushed Mumbo back. Mumbo was pulled off guard and fell to the floor. 

“And- And now you’re building some time machine?! Will the time machine even do what you say it will? Are you just going to take us all at once?” 

“I didn’t- I’m not causing the disappearances- they happen on their own- they are caused by glitches- I-“ Mumbo stammered. He wasn’t used to being interrogated and put on the spot. “And how do you know that?”

Mumbo stared at X in disbelief. He knew it because he spent months learning about the clocks in the first future world he was in. Xisuma knew this. Why was he acting so different? X has been nothing but nice to him up until this point. What was wrong with Xisuma?

“What connection do you have with all of this? Why did you change when you came in contact with the blue clock but  _ nothing happened to- _ “ Xisuma cut himself off from speaking. He took a deep breath, trying to recollect his thoughts. He looked over at Mumbo and shook his head. 

 

“It’s your fault. You’re the reason they’re all gone.”

 

“..m-my fault? It’s- my fault?” He shook his head. He couldn’t hear it. It wasn’t his fault. He did nothing wrong. He tried to get up but Xisuma pushed him back down. “It isn’t my fault- I didn’t do anything!” 

“Yes, you did! I have evidence and I’m going to tell the other hermits what you did!” Xisuma said, his voice cold and had no emotion. “Then they’ll see how bad you actually are.” 

Xisuma stepped away. Mumbo lifted himself off the ground. “Xisuma! Wait! Please! -I,”

Xisuma just shook his head and flew off with the help of his elytra and a few rockets. Mumbo was left alone in the grass, just outside the cave entrance to the time machine. 

 

_ ‘It’s my fault-“ _

  
  



End file.
